III. Transparency in arms transfers

Chapter:

10. International arms transfers and developments in arms production

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2017

Author(s):

Siemon T. Wezeman, Aude Fleurant

Official and publicly accessible data on arms transfers—both for exports and imports—is important for assessing states’ policies on arms exports, arms procurement and defence. Since the early 1990s a growing number of governments have published national reports giving details of their arms exports. In some cases the reports give extensive information about the types of arms licensed and exported, their destination and type of end user. As of the end of December 2016, 36 states had published at least one national report on arms exports since 1990, with only 2 of those states (Austria and Belarus) failing to issue a report since 2010. No state produced a national report on arms exports in 2015 or 2016 that had not done so previously, and in 2016 there were no significant developments in either the types of data included or the level of detail provided.¹ Some states that do not publish national reports on arms exports release official data on the overall financial value of their arms exports as part of a separate report, in a press release or as an attributed or unattributed quote in a media report. States that make such data available through one or other of these means include India, Israel, Pakistan and Russia.