Global IssuesNew Web Portal Tracks Airlines Delivering Aid and Arms
A new information portal launched Monday has been described as the world's first internet clearing house aimed at tracking unethical air cargo carriers transporting humanitarian aid and relief supplies to war zones while simultaneously smuggling arms and narcotics - at times, to the same conflict areas.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which launched the new website, EthicalCargo.org, says over 90 percent of air cargo carriers identified in arms-trafficking had also been used for humanitarian aid and peacekeeping operations by the United Nations, the European Union (EU) and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
'In some cases, air cargo companies have delivered both aid and weapons to the same conflict zones,' says SIPRI.
The cargo carriers singled out include Bluebird Aviation, Aerostan, Air Koryo, Ababeel Aviation, Badr Airlines, Juba Air Cargo, Aerocom, Trans-Attico and United Arabian Airways - some which have been contracted to provide logistical support both for U.S. and NATO military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The new website provides a 'one stop shop' for humanitarian and peacekeeping communities with an emergency 24-hour hotline, a database, model codes of conduct, best practices and contract negotiation techniques.
Asked if U.N. agencies, EU and NATO member states turn to these air cargo carriers knowingly or because they may be the only ones able to provide services at reasonable costs, SIPRI's Hugh Griffiths told IPS it would be difficult to prove that air cargo carriers named in U.N. and other arms trafficking-related reports are used knowingly.
Sometimes, such as in the case of U.N. or African Union (AU) peacekeeping missions in Sudan, there may be no alternatives.
But generally speaking, the problems are due to lack of awareness or out-sourcing, he added.
'By out-sourcing I mean that air transport provision is contracted out to private companies and air transport brokering firms who are mainly interested in the price,' Griffiths said.
They don't factor ethical considerations into their decision-making processes and that's why companies or aircraft involved in destabilising arms transfers, registered in flag of convenience states or with poor air safety records are often used, said Griffiths, project leader at SIPRI's Countering Illicit Trafficking - Mechanism Assessment Project (CIT-MAP)
'In other cases,' he said, 'the simple truth is that air cargo companies operating in certain African conflict zones are willing to fly whatever commodity is in demand.'
They therefore service both peacekeepers and conflict-drivers who require arms and ammunition, added Griffiths.
According to SIPRI, the new website will also provide an alert system to highlight other dangers, including poor safety records which have resulted in frequent crashes of aircraft involved in arms smuggling or international aid and peacekeeping missions.
The SIPRI-administered web portal is being funded by the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA), with support from the Swedish ministry of foreign affairs.
SIPRI points out that airlines named in some of the reports released by the U.N. Sanctions Committee covering arms deliveries to Angola, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe 'have all serviced humanitarian aid or peacekeeping operations'.
They may avoid scrutiny by registering their aircraft in 'flag of convenience' states where safety oversight is poor and corruption is common, said SIPRI.
As a result, their aircraft have crashed more frequently than others, sometimes with narcotics, weapons, humanitarian aid or peacekeeping officials on board.
In March, the European Commission blacklisted all Sudanese air cargo aircraft from EU airspace due to safety concerns.
The U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee accused a Moldova-registered air cargo company, Aerocom, of repeatedly violating U.N. sanctions by supplying former Liberian President Charles Taylor, an indicted war criminal, with Serbian weapons and ammunition.
Aerocom, together with individuals identified as arms smugglers, were subsequently employed by U.S. Department of Defence contractors to ship large quantities of weapons and military equipment to Iraq, according to SIPRI.
Asked if the United Nations and its sanctions committee are doing enough to blacklist such cargo carriers, Griffiths told IPS the sanctions committee's groups of experts do their very best, often under pressure from certain U.N. member states which are well-represented in New York.
Their mandates cover tens of thousands of square miles of dangerous or inhospitable terrain, he pointed out.
For places like Sudan (Darfur) and the DRC, 'We are talking about very small teams of people (5-10 normally less, including support staff)' in countries which are territorial large.
Even when the U.N. Sanctions Committee's groups of experts provide firm evidence, as suggested by flight records and radio call-signs which lead them to recommend complete aviation bans, these recommendations are ignored by member states concerned, he added.
In Sudan, for example, where the U.N. Sanctions Committee for Darfur recommended at least six air cargo carriers for a ban, the AU/U.N. peacekeeping mission there continued to use the services of such companies, despite the U.N. aviation ban recommendation being published in a U.N. Security Council document available on the internet.
'So it's not that the U.N. Sanctions Committee is not doing enough. They do a lot with very limited resources, but the problem lies elsewhere - a lack of awareness and a lack of effective information coordination,' Griffiths said.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service