The Arms Trade and International Criminal Law Reframing Accountability for Complicit Weapon Suppliers

The Arms Trade and International Criminal Law offers a rigorous analysis of how the global arms trade intersects with accountability in the era of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The book argues that individuals—including corporate executives, state officials, and arms traffickers—can be held directly accountable under international law for supplying weapons. By examining the complexities of the arms trade and the doctrines of accomplice liability, the book explores how international justice mechanisms have become narrowly focused on the prosecution of military and political leaders, neglecting the more structural causes of atrocity. The book assesses the failings of current ‘Arms Trade Law’—including UN embargoes, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), and the EU Common Position—to prevent weapons from reaching perpetrators or to achieve substantive accountability. It argues that International Criminal Law can complement existing export regulation, particularly through prosecutions that express condemnation of the wrongdoing of arms dealers who profit from atrocity. The book advances a specific interpretation of actus reus and mens rea for complicity under Article 25 of the Rome Statute, providing a sound legal basis for the ICC to prosecute an arms trader. It explores the institutional attitudes within the ICC that hinder such prosecutions, drawing on interviews, participant observation, and empirical research to assess the perspectives of judges and lawyers. Case studies from the Second Congo War and the DRC investigations illustrate missed opportunities. The book concludes with a call for broader engagement with the Rome Statute’s mandate, to ensure that accountability reaches all types of actors responsible for international crimes.