International markets for security and military assistance

The follwing document is a thematic paper supporting the OECD DAC INCAF project ‘Global Factors Influencing the Risk of Conflict and Fragility’.This paper is one of eight thematic papers supporting the OECD DAC INCAF project on Global Factors Influencing the Risk of Conflict and Fragility. Each paper explores a specific global factor.

The paper outlines how at best, international markets in military and security assistance can help state security services to provide responsive and accountable services to their populations. At worst, they can provide the tools, know-how and people to commit human rights violations and other crimes. Other aspects of this market also potentially affect state legitimacy, in particular the massive levels of corruption associated with the international arms trade. The paper suggests some entry points for the international community to mitigate the potential risks posed by international markets in mil/sec assistance to conflict and fragility, beginning with options for developing and consolidating the existing regulatory frameworks, linking controls on markets for equipment and services and then broadening out to link with other issue areas such as governance, peacebuilding and statebuilding.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2012

The mission of the OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems.