Switzerland unable to properly verify weapons exported to India

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Swiss authorities are finding it difficult to monitor India over rules governing the non-re-exportation of war materiel to third parties.

A Swiss delegation was unable to inspect all the weapons delivered to India last November. It was only able to “physically check” a small proportion of the weapons, according to a report submitted to the Keystone-SDA press agency, confirming a report by Swiss public broadcaster SRF. The checks were carried out on several occasions by video call. The result of the checks was therefore “unsatisfactory”.

The question now arises as to whether the unchecked firearms could have been passed on, according to the report by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). For some years now, Switzerland has been able to reserve the right to verify compliance with the rules on the non-re-exportation of war materiel in the countries to which it exports arms.

Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

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