Certain International and Criminal Law Aspects of the Use and Circulation of Weapons and Ammunition During Interstate or Civil Armed Conflicts

At its 63rd session, the UN General Assembly noted that present-day armed conflicts blurred the distinction between international and internal armed conflicts.The number of civil wars has increased, and, statistically, they are more frequent than international armed conflicts.Furthermore, many of these 'civil wars' include 'external' components, such as support and involvement, in varying degrees, by other states that supply arms, provide training camps, financial resources, etc.The existing international humanitarian law contains provisions that govern the use of weapons.They may be divided into groups: 1. Banning and restricting specific DOI 10.32370/IA_2019_09_11 types of weapons under international treaties.2. Banning and restricting certain types of weapons, such as poison, biological and chemical weapons, under traditional international law.3. General principles that govern the use of weapons under international humanitarian law.The first principle involves distinction between military objectives and civilian population, between combatants and civilians during the war.It originated in the St. Petersburg Declaration Renouncing the Use, in Time of War, of certain Explosive Projectiles dated 1868 and was subsequently codified in the Additional Protocol I of 1977 (Article 48).The second important principle involves proportionality.The scale of destruction in the conduct of a military operation should be commensurate with the importance of this operation.Article 57, Additional Protocol I of 1977, stipulates that those who plan or decide upon an attack shall take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack, and refrain from deciding to launch any attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life.Obviously, any kind of restriction is a question of ethics and morality and therefore may be discussed and interpreted differently.As regards restrictions on certain types of weapons, it is essential to have methods that would enable taking reliable and efficient measurements of the environment and consequences of a projectile impact as a means of attacking personnel, materiel and fortifications.Having common criteria for the results obtained through the use of these methods is equally important.All international treaties concerning the use and application of firearms have continuously reiterated two aspects: 1) a party's entitlement to an unlimited choice of weaponry to inflict damage to the enemy; 2) restricting the use of weapons that cause 'unnecessary suffering'.International legal regulation of warfare is intended to restrain parties to an armed conflict from wanton cruelty.Violations of these rules, either with criminal intent or because of criminal negligence, are recognised as war crimes.The international community is also increasingly recognising the threat of arms trafficking not only as the countries' internal problem, but also as a significant factor of influence on transnational organised crime, including drug trafficking, money laundering, financing of terrorism, etc.The illicit trafficking in firearms, explosive substances and devices has always posed a serious threat to public safety.The key suppliers and intermediates in the global arms trafficking primarily represent transnational organised crime.It is these organisations that mostly operate in the areas of armed conflict and in adjacent countries.Illicit trade in small arms is the most widespread globally, given their easy use, availability, and opportunities for rapid replenishment of ammunition.These weapons are legal per se; selling them to banned purchasers is illegal.These purchasers usually include those countries whose governments allow conflicts or violations of human rights both within and outside the country.The proliferation of weapons has assumed organised forms long ago, and the main reason for its prevalence is its exceptional profitability.Therefore, signing of the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition on 02/03/2001, as a supplement to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, became an important step in the development of international legal rules in the field of combating the illegal trafficking in firearms.Recently, the movement of weapons across Ukrainian borders beyond or concealed from customs control has become of particular concern, as evidenced not only by a higher public danger of such acts, but also by the associated negative processes that tend to be further exacerbated [1].

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