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.