The Export of Weapons Protects Social Peace in Serbia, Not Peace in the World

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;color:#212121;background:white”>Domestic legislation sets very strict criteria and a complicated procedure for deciding on arms exports. However, these criteria are not respected in practice. It is therefore no wonder that Serbian weapons occasionally end up in the wrong hands. There are two reasons: export growth is necessary to maintain an increasing number of jobs in the defence industry and the government doesn’t analyze the long-term effects of arms exports to a particular country.

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>The arms export has come under public loupe after the international non-governmental organization Amnesty International appealed to Serbia to stop exporting weapons to Cameroon. The immediate cause for that was a recording on which men dressed in uniforms of the Cameroon army are killing two women and two small children by guns M21, manufactured by Zastava Kragujevac. This is probably not an isolated incident: the Cameroon army has M21 assault rifles in own armament and engaged currently in two regions of that country (in the north part counter Boko Haram and in the northwest part counter the Anglophone separatist movement), increasing the number of charges for war crimes which it’s members are commiting.

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>This whole case illustrates in many ways the dilemma of Serbia: how to secure more jobs and jobs for the defence industry and at the same time respect the laws?

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>Read the whole analysis on this link.

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>

<spanArial”,”sans-serif”;mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;color:#212121;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:SR-LATN-RS”>Translated by BCSP Intern Milos Jovanovic.