Non-state transfers is a term usually used to describe transactions of weapons or other goods - material or non-material - where neither party involved is a government. This is in contrast to the usual practice of arms sales, where a government purchases arms from another government or from private industry. This is also in contrast to situations where a government may provide arms to a non-state actor, such as a separatist movement or terrorists.

Examples of non-state transfers could include theft from the military of a sovereign state, sale by a private individual of government goods which do not legally belong to him, and a variety of other black market activities.

Many attempts at international arms control, such as the Chemical Weapons Convention

Chemical Weapons Convention

The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Its full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction...

, Biological Weapons Convention

Biological Weapons Convention

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the...

 and the Australia Group

Australia Group

The Australia Group is an informal group of countries established in 1985 to help member countries to identify those of their exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons .The group, initially consisting of 15 members, held its first...

, are premised on the notion that one or both parties involved will be state actors. Thus, non-state transfers represent a generally unaddressed area of concern regarding weapons proliferation.

External links

• Congressional Research Service. “Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs: Issues for Congress.” 23 March 2001.
• Ford, Carl W. “Reducing the Threat of Chemical and Biological Weapons.” Testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 19 March 2002.
• Moodie, Michael. “International Smuggling Networks: Weapons of Mass Destruction Counterproliferation Initiatives.” Testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. 23 June 2004.
• 'Russian Biological and Chemical Weapons.'