In 1977, responding to mounting condemnation of apartheid and outrage over repressive measures taken by South Africa, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose an arms embargo on the country. It was the first time that the Council departed from supporting only rhetorical condemnation and approved tangible, material sanctions against the government.
However, despite the success of the embargo, the world has seen twenty-seven other cases of arms embargoes being circumvented, and research shows that overall, UN weapons embargoes are relatively ineffective at preventing illicit arms transfers. This is partly because it is very difficult and perhaps impossible to completely cut off an economy from the rest of the world in the modern world. Charter aircraft and cargo firms that have been used to break the UN arms embargos are often not grounded or closed, but simply change their names and continue doing business.
Arms embargoes are also hampered by their lack of clear criteria for determining whether a particular arms export is acceptable or not. This makes the process of imposing an arms embargo highly politicized and susceptible to manipulation by powerful states that are either directly involved in or close to the country under scrutiny. An international Arms Trade Treaty that sets common standards for all parties would be the best solution to this problem. This would provide the United Nations Sanctions Committees and the investigative teams they oversee with better verification methods, techniques and procedures.
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