Isolate Syria’s Arms Suppliers | Human Rights Watch

Russian Arms Exporter Rosoboronexport Risks Complicity in Grave Abuses

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  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (right) walks with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moualem during their meeting in Moscow, on April 10, 2012.
  © 2012 Reuters

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Letter to Rosoboronexport on Syrian Weapons Supplies

Rosoboronexport’s clients should distance themselves from the company until it stops selling arms to Syria. The bottom line is that no one should do new business with any company that may be an accomplice to crimes against humanity.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Governments and companies around the world should stop signing new contracts with arms suppliers such as the Russian firm Rosoboronexport that are providing weapons to the Syrian government. In light of compelling evidence that the Syrian army is responsible for crimes against humanity against Syria’s people, the Russian state-owned arms trading company’s continued dealings with Syria place the company at risk of complicity in these crimes, Human Rights Watch warned in a letter to the company made public today.

Under international law, providing weapons to Syria while crimes against humanity are being committed may translate into assisting in the commission of those crimes. Any arms supplier could bear potential criminal liability as an accessory to those crimes and could face prosecution, Human Rights Watch said. Rosoboronexport is widely reported to be Syria’s main weapons supplier, but all other suppliers of arms to Syria should be subject to the same scrutiny, Human Rights Watch said.

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