Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms

Treaty on anti-arms trafficking

  Signed and ratified or acceded
  Only signed
  Non-party
TypeOrganized crime; international criminal lawDrafted31 May 2001Signed11 July 2001[1]LocationNew York, United StatesEffective3 July 2005Condition40 ratificationsSignatories52Parties122DepositarySecretary-General of the United NationsLanguagesArabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish

The Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition (Firearms Protocol) is a treaty on anti-arms trafficking including Small Arms and Light Weapons that is supplemental to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. It is one of the so-called Palermo protocols.

The Protocol was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as Resolution 55/255 on 31 May 2001; the treaty entered into force on 3 July 2005. It was signed by 52 parties and as of October 2022 it has 122 parties, including the European Union.[2]

The states that have signed the protocol but have not yet ratified it are Australia, Canada, China, Iceland, Japan, Monaco, Seychelles, and United Kingdom.[2] In February 2022, France (since February 2019) and Germany (since October 2021) are the sole among the top six arms exporting countries to have ratified the protocol. The other four – United States, Russia, China, and United Kingdom – have not.

Notes

  1. ^ Brazil and Mali were the first states to sign the Protocol.
  2. ^ a b Signatures and ratifications.

External links

  • Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) website
  • United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto, official website, unodc.org
  • Text, un.org.
  • Signatures and ratifications Archived 25 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine, un.org.