Forum on the Arms Trade
  • Home
  • Experts
    • View all - by location
    • View by issue expertise >
      • View all
      • US Policy and Practice >
        • Arms sales
        • Security assistance
        • Export control
        • Defense industry
      • International Instruments >
        • Arms Trade Treaty
        • CCW
        • Other instruments
      • Weapons >
        • small arms/light weapons
        • drones
        • landmines/cluster munitions
        • killer robots
        • cyber
        • explosive weapons
        • F-35
      • International Trade >
        • Global trade data/trends
        • Strategic trade control
        • Africa
        • Latin America
        • Middle East
        • Europe
        • Asia
      • Implications >
        • Harm to civilians
        • Gender
        • Child soldiers
        • Arms trafficking
        • Corruption
        • Environment
    • A to B >
      • Rasha Abdul Rahim
      • Jeff Abramson
      • Ray Acheson
      • Linda Åkerström
      • Adotei Akwei
      • Waleed Alhariri
      • Radhya al-Mutawakel
      • Alma Taslidzan Al-Osta
      • Peter Asaro
      • David Atwood
      • Kathi Lynn Austin
      • Natalia Báez Zamudio
      • Deepayan Basu Ray
      • Brittany Benowitz
      • Lucie Béraud-Sudreau
      • Seth Binder
      • Subindra Bogati
      • Laura Boillot
      • Matthew Breay Bolton
      • Mark Bromley
      • Martin Butcher
    • C to G >
      • Magda Coss Nogueda
      • Verity Coyle
      • Anna Crowe
      • Maria Pia Devoto
      • Lode Dewaegheneire
      • Shannon Dick
      • Bonnie Docherty
      • Geoffrey L. Duke
      • Nils Duquet
      • Cindy Ebbs
      • Jennifer L. Erickson
      • Andrew Feinstein
      • Aude Fleurant
      • Denise Garcia
      • Dan Gettinger
      • Natalie Goldring
      • Colby Goodman
      • Hector Guerra
    • H to L >
      • William Hartung
      • Lisa Haugaard
      • Alexandra Hiniker
      • Erin Hunt
      • Adam Isacson
      • Roy Isbister
      • Cesar Jaramillo
      • N.R. Jenzen-Jones
      • Adele Kirsten
      • Kate Kizer
      • Michael Klare
      • Guy Lamb
      • Edward J. Laurance
      • John Lindsay-Poland
    • M to R >
      • Daniel Mack
      • Daniel Mahanty
      • Ara Marcen Naval
      • Ivan Marques
      • Jesus Martínez
      • Montserrat Martínez Téllez
      • Nicholas Marsh
      • Stephen Miles
      • Elizabeth Minor
      • Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan
      • Robert Muggah
      • Wanda Munoz
      • Folade Mutota
      • Jasmin Nario-Galace
      • Amy Nelson
      • Linnet L. Wairimu Ng'ayu
      • Diana Ohlbaum
      • Iain Overton
      • Scott Paul
      • Carlos Pérez Ricart
      • Samuel Perlo-Freeman
      • Allison Pytlak
      • Josh Ruebner
    • S to Z >
      • Wilder Alejandro Sanchez
      • Camilo Serna
      • Annie Shiel
      • Stephen Mwachofi Singo
      • Frank Slijper
      • Nate Smith
      • Mandy Smithberger
      • Emma Soubrier
      • Anna Stavrianakis
      • Rachel Stohl
      • A. Trevor Thrall
      • Francesco Vignarca
      • Jodi Vittori
      • Leah Wawro
      • Doug Weir
      • Anne-Charlotte Merrell Wetterwik
      • Patrick Wilcken
      • Cristian Wittmann
      • Elias Yousif
      • Wim Zwijnenburg
  • Emerging Experts
  • Resource Page - Biden Arms Sales Review
  • Looking Ahead 2021 Blog
  • Resource Page - Trump & Saudi Arms Sales
  • Resource Page - Trump & UAE Arms Sales
  • Major Arms Sales Notifications Tracker
  • Resource Page - U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan
  • Resource Page - US Landmine Poilicy
  • Resource Page - USML Cat I-III to Commerce
  • U.S. Presidential Election 2020 - Candidate Positions
    • Arms Trade Treaty
    • Arms Sales to Saudi Coalition
    • Firearms Export Oversight
    • Mine Ban Treaty
    • Candidate List >
      • Donald Trump
      • Joe Biden
  • Resource Page - U.S. Arms Sales to India
  • Events
  • Journalists
  • Get on the list
  • About
  • Archives
    • All Archives
    • Expert Publications
    • Blog
    • Newsletter

Improving Transparency and Seeking Control over the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons

6/6/2016

2 Comments

 
GoldringNatalie Goldring
This is the fifth blog post in a series on official transparency reporting, where it struggles, and the important role civil society often plays in monitoring and improving global understanding of the trade and use of conventional weapons.

The United Nations is not known for its command of acronyms. So when countries reached agreement on an instrument to control the illicit arms trade, its unwieldy title was, “The United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects.” In this post, I’ll use the shorthand “Programme of Action”, or “PoA’.
 
The Programme of Action was agreed in 2001 after a great deal of discord and acrimony, and with considerable uncertainty about its prospects. Although it still needs strengthening, fifteen years later, the PoA is a pillar of the nascent regime to exercise better control over the international arms trade. The PoA recommends action on national, regional, and global levels. The assembled governments committed themselves to addressing the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons by developing or strengthening norms to prevent, combat, and eradicate the illicit trade, manufacturing of and trafficking in small arms and light weapons, with a particular emphasis on post-conflict situations and excessive and destabilizing accumulations of small arms and light weapons.
 
From 6-10 June, governments will gather at the United Nations to discuss progress in implementing the Programme of Action, at the sixth Biennial Meeting of States (BMS6). One key area for improvement is taking advantage of potential points of synergy between the Programme of Action and the Arms Trade Treaty; another is fully integrating ammunition into the Programme of Action.
 
As part of the implementation of the Programme of Action, States are requested to report on their activities in many substantive and procedural areas. They’re asked, for example, to report on whether small arms and light weapons (SALW) are manufactured in their countries, and if so, what laws, regulations, and administrative procedures regulate SALW manufacture. They are also asked to report on issues such as stockpile security, marking and tracing weapons, and procedures governing brokering, among other issues.
 
As of 1 June, more than 70 countries have reported on their PoA activities over the last two years, including each of the top ten conventional arms suppliers identified by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and six of the leading recipients. The country reports provide a useful starting point for discussion during the conference, as do the proposals circulated in advance by several countries and regional organizations, which are available at: www.un.org/disarmament/bms6/
 
The success of the conference, of course, should not be measured by the papers or the discussions. In the end, what matters is whether States have the political will and the financial and other resources to actually control the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and decrease the enormous toll caused by armed violence.
 
Dr. Natalie Goldring is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Full Professor with the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. She also represents the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy at the United Nations on conventional weapons.

2 Comments

Will U.S.-Russian competition make it more difficult to control the global arms trade?

3/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Natalie GoldringNatalie Goldring
According to recent press accounts, Russia is considering selling advanced mobile anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran. Russia is already moving toward delivering the same system to Egypt, and has reportedly transferred it to Venezuela as well. According to The Guardian, the manufacturer claims that the system is effective against missiles, fixed-wing aircraft, drones, and precision-guided bombs.

The Russian resurgence in the international arms trade challenges recent U.S. supremacy in this arena. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), from 2004-2008, the United States was responsible for 30 percent of the global weapons trade, with Russia in second place with 24 percent. From 2009-2013, however, the gap between the two countries narrowed significantly, with the United States still in first place at 29 percent, but Russia close behind at 27 percent. With the release of new SIPRI arms trade data in mid-March 2015, the two top suppliers may well switch places.

The United States has signed the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), but the prospects for ratification in the near future are dismal at best. Russia has not signed the treaty, and it abstained on the General Assembly vote on ATT passage. Advocates of global control of arms transfers must develop strategies for addressing key suppliers that are not full participants in the treaty. One possibility is seeking synergies among the ATT, the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons and the UN Register of Conventional Arms to strengthen the nascent global regime on conventional weapons transfers.

Dr. Natalie Goldring is a Senior Fellow in in the Security Studies Program in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is also UN consultant for the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy.

0 Comments

    About

    The "Looking Ahead Blog" features comments concerning short- to medium-term trends related to the arms trade, security assistance, and weapons use. Typically about 500-1000 words, each comment is written by an expert listed on the Forum on the Arms Trade related to topics of each expert's choosing.

    We have a number of special series including: 


    Looking Ahead 2021
    Looking Ahead 2020

    Looking Ahead 2019
    Looking Ahead 2018
    First 100 Days (April/May '17)

    Looking Ahead 2017

    Inclusion on the Forum on the Arms Trade expert list does not indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of others. Institutional affiliation is indicated for identification purposes only.

    Archives

    January 2021
    July 2020
    May 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015

    Pdf's

    March 11 (2015)

    Categories

    All
    Adam Isacson
    Africa
    Alejandro Sanchez
    Allison Pytlak
    Amy Nelson
    Anna Stavrianakis
    Arms Sales
    Arms Trade Treaty
    Arms Trafficking
    Aude Fleurant
    Child Soldiers
    Colby Goodman
    Corruption
    Cyber
    Dan Gettinger
    Danielle Preskitt
    Drones
    Environment
    Erin Hunt
    Europe
    Explosive Weapons
    First 100 Days
    Frank Slijper
    Gender
    Global Trade Trends
    Harm To Civilians
    Hector Guerra
    High School Debate '19 20
    High School Debate '19-20
    Humanitarian Disarmament
    Iain Overton
    Jeff Abramson
    John Lindsay Poland
    John Lindsay-Poland
    Kate Kizer
    Killer Robots
    Landmines/cluster Munitions
    Latin America
    Laura Boillot
    Lode Dewaegheneire
    Looking Ahead 2017
    Looking Ahead 2018
    Looking Ahead 2019
    Looking Ahead 2020
    Looking Ahead 2021
    Maria Pia Devoto
    Martin Butcher
    Matthew Bolton
    Middle East
    Military Expenditures
    Natalie Goldring
    Nicholas Marsh
    Non State Actors
    Paul Holtom
    Rachel Stohl
    Ray Acheson
    Robert Muggah
    Robert Watson
    Roy Isbister
    SALW
    Samuel Perlo Freeman
    Samuel Perlo-Freeman
    Security Assistance
    Seth Binder
    Shannon Dick
    Suicide Bombing
    Sustainable Development
    Tobias Bock
    Transparency
    UN Register
    Victim Assistance
    Wanda Muñoz
    William Hartung
    Wim Zwijnenburg
    Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly