For Outsourcing Responsibility, Amnesty International contacted 22 arms companies and asked them to explain how they meet their responsibilities to respect human rights under internationally recognized standards. Many of the companies investigated supply arms to countries accused of committing war crimes and serious human rights violations, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

None of the companies that responded was able to adequately explain how they meet their human rights responsibilities and demonstrate proper due diligence, and 14 did not respond at all...

Amnesty investigated 22 arms companies from 11 countries, including Airbus (Netherlands), Arquus (France), Boeing (USA), BAE Systems (UK), Leonardo (Italy), Lockheed Martin (UK), Raytheon (USA), Rosoboronexport (Russia), Thales (France), and Zastava (Serbia). A full list of responses is available here.

While the human rights obligations of states to regulate the international arms trade are now clearly defined under the Arms Trade Treaty and regional and domestic legislation, the crucial role of companies in the supply of military goods and services is often overlooked, despite the often inherently dangerous nature of its business and products...

BAE Systems described Amnesty International’s conclusions as “false and misleading”...

Leonardo said that Amnesty International’s conclusions were “not completely fair” ...