A/HRC/42/CRP.3 170. The Mission also draws legal findings from international arms trade law. Since October 2016, Israel, the Philippines, and Ukraine, all signatories to the ATT, have allowed the transfer or enabled the assembly of conventional arms and other items covered by the Arms Trade Treaty, namely armoured combat vehicles and battle tanks, 413 small arms and light weapons414, and warships415. As signatories, they are obliged to refrain from acts contrary to the object and purpose of the treaty, which include establishing the highest possible common international standards for regulating or improving the regulation of the international trade in conventional arms for the purpose of reducing human suffering. This is principally manifested in the ATT’s core obligations found in Articles 6 and 7, which aim to ensure that arms do not end up in the hands of those who would use them to commit serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law.416 Despite this, Israel in particular allowed the transfer of arms covered by the ATT at a time when it had knowledge, or ought to have had knowledge, that they would be used in the commission of serious crimes under international law. Further investigation is required with respect to the transfer and any prospective sales of small arms or other items from the Philippines as well as the nature of arms or related items that Myanmar may have procured from two businesses based in Singapore, which is a signatory to the ATT. 171. Ukraine as a signatory to the ATT must also not engage in acts or omissions that defeat the treaty’s object and purpose. The ATT covers “parts and components where the export is in a form that provides the capability to assemble the conventional arms”. 417 Despite this, the Ukraine state-owned Ukrspetsexport and Ukroboronprom factory agreed to provide the capacity to assemble conventional arms, in this case armoured personnel carriers and selfpropelled howitzers, in a manner that would place those arms into the hands of the Myanmar government at a time when Ukraine had knowledge, or ought to have had knowledge, that they would be used in the commission of serious violations of international law. While the ATT does not specifically cover the building of arms factories in another State, a good faith interpretation of the treaty should preclude activities that circumvent the treaty’s Article 6 prohibition by building an arms factory in a State to which Ukraine would otherwise be prohibited from transferring arms.418 The building of an arms factory in Myanmar would provide a sustainable source of conventional arms that the treaty otherwise regulates. For these reasons, the Mission concludes on reasonable grounds and through a good faith interpretation of the ATT that the Ukrspetsexport and Ukroboronprom arms factory in Myanmar defeats the object and purpose of the ATT. 172. Article 7, which covers due diligence and mitigation efforts, applies to the export of conventional arms and related items that are not prohibited under Article 6. Under Article 7, signatories (due to their obligation not to defeat the object and purpose of the treaty) and States Parties (due to their binding obligations under the treaty) must assess the potential for exports to contribute to, inter alia, undermining peace and security or be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international human rights law or international humanitarian law. The exporting signatory or State Party must also consider whether there are measures that could be undertaken to mitigate those risks and it must not authorize the export if there is an overriding risk of any of those negative consequences occurring. The exporting State’s assessment must also take into account the risk of the covered export being used to commit 413 414 415 416 417 418 60 Assembly factory to build BTR-4U wheeled 8×8 armored personnel carrier, and 2S1U self-propelled howitzer based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, provided by Ukraine state-owned Ukrspecexport. Competition handguns sold to the Tatmadaw by Philippines-based private arms manufacturer, Armscor International. Two attack frigates, delivered to the Tatmadaw Navy by Israel Aerospace Industries, a State-owned enterprise. See paragraphs 31-32. The Arms Trade Treaty (https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treaty-status.html?templateId=209883#), Article 4. See, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, The Arms Trade Treaty (2013) June 2013, p. 21 (https://www.geneva-academy.ch/joomlatools-files/docmanfiles/Publications/Academy%20Briefings/ATT%20Briefing%203%20web.pdf).