India shows Swiss inspectors weapons mainly by video
Published: Thursday, Aug 22nd 2024, 15:30
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Switzerland is experiencing difficulties in controlling the non-re-export rules for war material in India. Last November, a Swiss delegation was unable to inspect all the weapons delivered to this country.
According to a partially redacted report obtained by the Keystone-SDA news agency, the Swiss delegation was only able to "physically inspect" a small proportion of the weapons delivered to India. The checks were carried out several times by video call.
In one case, this control via smartphone or laptop allegedly failed due to an insufficient internet connection. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which is responsible for the export control of Swiss armaments, therefore considers the result of the war material control to be "unsatisfactory".
Although there is no evidence of a transfer of weapons, the report goes on to say that the question arises as to whether the unverified firearms could have been transferred. In any case, the result of this check must be taken into account in future when analyzing the risk of an unauthorized transfer to undesirables. Compared to previous inspections in India, the one carried out in November 2023 was deemed "inadequate".
Swiss Radio and Television SRF reported on this confidential report, which it was able to view on the basis of the Public Access Act. The Indian embassy in Bern had not responded to a request for comment from Keystone-SDA by Thursday afternoon.
Over 50 checks since 2012
For a few years now, Switzerland has been able to demand the right to check compliance with non-re-export rules for war material on site when exporting weapons. It amended the law accordingly after Swiss hand grenades emerged in the Syrian civil war in 2012.
The original buyer, the United Arab Emirates, gave the war material to Jordan as a gift.
According to Seco media documents from March 2023, Seco has carried out 54 post-shipment verifications in 35 countries since 2012, such as the one in India in November. In 2022, Seco checked in Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Slovenia, South Africa and South Korea whether or not these countries had transferred weapons purchased in Switzerland.
Switzerland is one of the few countries that checks war material exports on site, writes Seco.
Transfer of weapons a recurring topic
The conditions under which countries that have purchased Swiss weapons can pass them on are once again the subject of intense debate in Swiss politics. This is against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and international criticism of Switzerland, which has so far not allowed the transfer of war material to Ukraine due to its neutrality
The responsible committee of the National Council recently submitted proposals for an amendment to the War Material Act for consultation. The majority of the committee proposes relaxing the non-re-export ban for countries that have similar export control mechanisms to Switzerland and share similar values with Switzerland. Today, the War Material Act prohibits the transfer of exported Swiss armaments to Ukraine.
©Keystone/SDA
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