The arms show is “organized under the auspices” of the French Ministry of Defense.

Human Rights Watch has called for the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Syria, and for Rosoboronexport in particular to stop supplying arms to Syria in light of compelling evidence that the Syrian army is responsible for crimes against humanity.

On June 3, Human Rights Watch publicly called for governments and companies around the world to stop signing new contracts with arms suppliers such as Rosoboronexport that supply weapons to Syria.

“France shouldn’t have it both ways – it can’t be a leading voice calling for an end to grave violations in Syria and imposing an arms embargo, while allowing Syria’s main arms dealer to come to Paris to promote its weapons and land new deals,” said Jean-Marie Fardeau, France director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s not acceptable to do business as usual with a company arming a government engaged in atrocities against its people,” she added.

Some 1,300 exhibitors from 70 countries are expected to attend the Eurosatory arms show. Rosoboronexport, which is widely reported to be Syria’s main weapons supplier, plans to have an extensive presence at the show. 

”Under international law, providing weapons to Syria while its forces are committing crimes against humanity may translate into assisting in the commission of those crimes,” HRW added.

According to HRW, Rosoboronexport should not be allowed to promote itself and seek new contracts at Eurosatory and if Rosoboronexport is to be permitted to participate in the arms show, all arms show participants, including official delegations and private arms brokers, should refuse to negotiate any new deals with Rosoboronexport.

Public information sources indicate that Rosoboronexport is Syria’s main weapons supplier. Since 2007, Rosoboronexport has had a virtual monopoly on arms exports from Russia. During that period, Syria’s arms imports increased more than five-fold compared with the previous five-year period, according to research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Russia provided 78 percent of Syria’s imports of major conventional weapons from 2007 to 2011, SIPRI found.

In addition to Russia, SIPRI has also identified recent weapons transfers to Syria from Belarus and Iran.