A/HRC/42/CRP.3 a State knows that the receiving State systematically commits violations of humanitarian law with certain weapons, continuing assistance is necessarily given with a view to facilitating further violations.46 While the rules of international humanitarian law generally apply only to situations of armed conflict, Common Article 1 does not have this restriction. As the ICRC explains in its commentary, “The obligation to respect and to ensure respect for the Conventions is not limited…to armed conflict, but applies equally in peacetime”. This is an obligation that applies as a matter of treaty law and customary international law to all the arms contributing countries listed in this report.47 (d) Arms trade law 30. The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which entered into force in December 2014, also provides important rules relevant to the Mission’s findings. The ATT was adopted by the General Assembly to regulate the international trade in conventional arms. Its stated object and purpose explicitly 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.48 One of its guiding principles is to respect and ensure respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. 49 31. Article 6 prohibits a State Party from authorizing the transfer of conventional arms if it has knowledge at the time of authorization that the arms or items would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other war crimes as defined by international agreements to which it is a party. The ATT covers the following conventional weapons: battle tanks; armoured combat vehicles; largecalibre artillery systems; combat aircraft; attack helicopters; warships; missiles and missile launchers; and small arms and light weapons. Articles 6 also applies to transfers of ammunition/munitions fired, launched or delivered by the conventional arms listed by the ATT50 as well as parts and components where the item is in a form that provides the capability to assemble the conventional arms that the ATT lists. 51 32. Where transfer is not prohibited under Article 6, Article 7 of the ATT places a due diligence obligation on exporting States Parties to assess, inter alia, the potential that the arms or other items would contribute to undermining peace and security, or could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law or of international human rights law. The exporting 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 items being used to commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children. 46 47 48 49 50 51 12 the Red Cross, 15 December 2016, paragraph 162. The Arms Trade Treaty references this obligation when it lists its principle of “Respecting and ensuring respect for international humanitarian law in accordance with, inter alia, the Geneva Conventions of 1949”. See, The Arms Trade Treaty (https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treatystatus.html?templateId=209883#https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treatystatus.html?templateId=209883#), Principles. Marco Sassoli, “State responsibility for violations of international humanitarian law,” International Review of the Red Cross, June 2002 Vol. 84 No 846, pg. 413 J.M. Henckaerts and L. Doswald-Beck, “Customary International Humanitarian Law. Volume I: Rules” (Cambridge, ICRC/Cambridge University Press, 2005), rule 139. The Arms Trade Treaty (https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treaty-status.html?templateId=209883#), Article 1. The Arms Trade Treaty (https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treatystatus.html?templateId=209883#https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treatystatus.html?templateId=209883#), Principles. The Arms Trade Treaty (https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treaty-status.html?templateId=209883#), Article 3. The Arms Trade Treaty (https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treaty-status.html?templateId=209883#), Article 4.