Die deutsche Rüstungsexportpolitik.

Wer Waffen liefert, heizt Kriege an und treibt Menschen in die Flucht

Abstract

The laws regulating the exports of arms are relatively strong in Germany. But in practice, until today all German governments, irrespective of their political affiliation, have only made weak efforts to enforce the compliance of laws and regulations and hardly any attempts to close loopholes like the uncontrolled licensed production in other countries. This is why German arms, especially small arms like machine guns from Heckler & Koch, are not only used by government agencies to which they have been officially delivered, but also, often as a result of a blowback effect, by their opponents, e.g. ISIS militia groups. The article retraces the transfer of arms to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria in the last decades and argues that this has contributed to the prolongation and brutalization of the wars in these countries. Hence, the German export of arms must also be seen as a major factor for the ongoing migration of refugees to Europe. Finally, this raises the question, if there are tendencies to stop or at least to reduce the fatal exports.