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Summary

United Nation member states are currently discussing the feasibility of an arms trade treaty (ATT) which would seek to create better controls on international arms transfers. This Background Paper is one of a series produced by SIPRI to inform these discussions.

Military expenditure and arms imports in Europe and Central Asia have increased during the past decade. Military reform and modernization have been offered as justifications for the significant increase in military spending and arms procurement in Eastern Europe, but other factors such as unresolved border disputes, territorial claims and separatism also play a role.

Russia, Germany, France and the UK are among the world’s largest arms exporters. European and Central Asian states have contributed to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) via transfers and licensed production. They have also developed national legislation and systems for controlling arms transfers and have made commitments at the regional level to prevent diversions or destabilizing build-ups of SALW.

The norm of transparency in arms transfers is well developed in Europe and Central Asia. Every state has submitted information to the UN Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) on at least one occasion since 1999, and a number of European states have published national reports on arms exports.

Contents

I. Introduction
II. Arms transfers to and from states in Europe and Central Asia
III. Transparency in arms transfers
IV. Conclusions

Other papers in the series

Recent trends in the arms trade, Mark Bromley, Paul Holtom, Sam Perlo-Freeman and Pieter D. Wezeman, April 2009
Arms transfers to Central, North and West Africa, Pieter D. Wezeman, April 2009
Arms transfers to the Americas, Mark Bromley, June 2009
Arms transfers to the Middle East, Sam Perlo-Freeman, July 2009
Arms transfers to Asia and Oceania, Siemon, T. Wezeman, October 2009
Arms transfers to East and Southern Africa, Pieter D. Wezeman, December 2009

About the author

Dr Paul Holtom (United Kingdom) is Director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. Previously, he was a Research Fellow with the University of Glamorgan Centre for Border Studies. He has also been an International Expert for the Council of Europe’s Transfrontier Cooperation Programme on the Kaliningrad oblast and Lead Researcher on small arms and light weapons projects in north- and south-eastern Europe for Saferworld. His most recent publications include Small Arms Production in Russia (Saferworld, 2007), United Nations Arms Embargoes: Their Impact on Arms Flows and Target Behaviour (SIPRI/Uppsala University, 2007, lead author) and Transparency in Transfers of Small Arms and Light Weapons: Reports to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, 2003–2006, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 22 (2008).

Publisher: SIPRI
12 pp.
February 2010