Internal Compliance Programs, Arms Trade and Due Diligence: How to Possibly Improve Human Rights Obligations of the Defence Industries

The consolidation of an international legal framework on arms transfers raises new questions on forms and manners in implementing the prevention activities connected with human rights violations. While these obligations are certainly addressed to States that must exercise control over arms transfer activities, there are also conditions for laying down and consolidating the groundwork of compliance and accountability of defence industries. One of the possible methods involves the sharing control of duties between States and corporations. The Internal Compliance Program (ICP), as provided in some sectoral regulations in domestic legal systems and recommended as an efficient method for dual-use exports at the supranational level, works in this way and could further shape the mandatory human rights due diligence of corporations, while being an instrument for exercising the State control in a more efficient way. This contribution will theorize the resort to ICP as a fundamental legal instrument for regulating the duties of corporations in the export of armaments and dual-use items and the advancement of mandatory human rights due diligence in the field.