 |
 |
|
|
 |
| SIPRI Update: Global Security & Arms Control |
 |
Issues, events and publications in international security, arms control, non-proliferation and conflict |
 |
|
|
|
December 2009
In this issue:
|
|
|
| ESSAY |
 |
|
Climate change, land and security
Ruben de Koning, SIPRI Researcher
As world leaders gather at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this week, the effects of climate change have already created serious security threats in many parts of the developing world. While slowing climate change is an unavoidable responsibility, from a security perspective the most pressing challenge for the international community in the next five years is dealing with the impacts of climate change on vulnerable regions. With or without an international regime, the world is already responding to climate change in ways that do not always foster cooperation and stability.
Continue reading...
|
|
| NEWS |
|
|
SIPRI first to identify seized aeroplane carrying arms
SIPRI was the first organization to identify the serial number of the Russian-made Ilyushin 76 aeroplane seized by Thai police at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport on 12 December allegedly carrying trafficked weapons from North Korea. Using open source intelligence (OSI) techniques and subscription databases, researchers on the Countering Illicit Trafficking-Mechanism Assessment Project (CIT-MAP) also discovered that the past owners of the aircraft, serial number 3426765, included companies named in UN Security Council Sanction Committee reports that had also been granted UN contracts for humanitarian tasks. SIPRI Researcher Hugh Griffiths was quoted in several Associated Press stories that appeared in, among others, the New York Times, The Guardian, CBS News, MSNBC, Times, the Miami Herald and the Taiwan News. Griffiths was also quoted by the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT) in a story that appeared in Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen, Aftonbladet and Göteborgs Posten and in another feature in Svenska Dagbladet as well as Swedish Radio News.
For further information contact Hugh Griffiths.
|
|
|
| NEWS |
|
|
Two new SIPRI projects
Conflict-sensitive Logistics and Ethical Transportation Clearing House
This new SIPRI project, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), aims to support the global humanitarian aid and peacekeeping communities in their adoption of conflict-sensitive logistics and ethical transportation policies. The project takes forward SIPRI's pioneering work on non-state transportation actors and destabilizing commodity flows, which was supported by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the Countering Illicit Trafficking-Mechanism Assessment Project (CIT-MAP). For further information contact SIPRI Researcher Hugh Griffiths.
China and Nuclear Security
SIPRI is pleased to announce its new Project on China and Nuclear Security. The project, which is jointly run by the SIPRI Programme on Arms Control and Non-proliferation and the SIPRI Programme on China and Global Security, will focus on ways to strengthen nuclear security in Europe and China. For further information contact SIPRI Research Coordinator Dr Ian Anthony, Director of the SIPRI Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme, or Linda Jakobson, Acting Director of the SIPRI Programme on China and Global Security.
|
|
|
| NEWS |
|
|
Seasons Greetings from all at SIPRI
SIPRI would like to wish our collaborating partners, supporters, friends and former colleagues all the best for the holiday season and for a happy New Year. Many thanks for your ongoing cooperation and interest, and we look forward to continuing our work together in the coming year.
|
|
| EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES |
|
|
Recent SIPRI events and activities
|
14 Dec.
Prague
|
|
Assessing the Swedish European Union Presidency
SIPRI Senior Research Gunilla Herolf delivered a lecture at the Institute of International Relations (IIR) assessing the Swedish Presidency of the EU, which ends this month. For more information contact Gunilla Herolf.
|
4 Dec.
Stockholm
|
|
SIPRI joins discussion on European Union's role in global health
SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill took part in a roundtable discussion on the EU's future role in global health at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, as part of the Nobel Forum Seminar on the EU as a Global Health Actor. Dr Gill gave a presentation on SIPRI's work and outlined the institute's plans for a new Global Health and Security programme, which is due to start in early 2010. The seminar was co-organized by the Karolinska Institute and Global Health Europe. For more information on the seminar click here. For more on SIPRI's new Global Health and Security programme contact Dr Bates Gill.
|
|
30 Nov.-
3 Dec.
The Hague
|
|
Chemical Weapons Convention meeting
SIPRI Senior Researcher John Hart attended the 14th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in The Hague, Netherlands. He participated in an open forum for NGOs, which considered the future of the treaty regime, and in an NGO coalition planning meeting. For more information contact John Hart.
|
26 Nov.
Brussels |
|
Presentations of SIPRI's work to counter illicit arms trafficking
SIPRI Researcher Hugh Griffiths was invited by the Swedish Presidency of the European Union to give a presentation on current and future activities of SIPRI's Countering Illicit Trafficking-Mechanism Assessment Project (CIT-MAP) at a meeting of the EU Working Group on Global Disarmament and Arms Control (CODUN). This meeting was dedicated to the EU's activities in the field of small arms and light weapons (SALW) control. Representatives of EU member states and EU officials discussed CIT-MAP's activities in the framework of the EU's initiative to combat airborne arms trafficking. For further information contact Hugh Griffiths.
|
|
19-20 Nov.
London, Prague
|
|
Reflections on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
SIPRI Gunilla Herolf gave two addresses on themes inspired by the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the Chatham House annual members' conference on 19 November she spoke on the topic of Domestic Security: A New Frontier for European Integration? The following day she spoke on the theme of the new multilateral world at the Prague Security Conference organized by the Charles University Center for Security Policy and others. For more information contact Gunilla Herolf.
|
|
3 Nov.
Istanbul
|
|
Roundtable on NATO's Strategic Concept and Nuclear Weapons
SIPRI, the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung jointly organized a roundtable discussion in Istanbul on the topic of the NATO's Strategic Concept and Nuclear Weapons. The participants included scholars, government officials and journalists. The roundtable was delivered in the framework of SIPRI's Project on Nuclear Weapons and European Security, which aims to generate and renew public dialogue about the role of nuclear weapons, in the first instance in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) strategy. SIPRI would like to thank the Carnegie Corporation of New York for its generous support of that public dialogue. For more information on the the Nuclear Weapons and European Security Project click here or contact SIPRI Programme Director Dr Ian Anthony.
|
|
|
| MEDIA |
|
|
SIPRI in the media
Dr Bates Gill was quoted in the Washington Post on China's expanding role in international peacekeeping.
Vitaly Fedchenko commented on Iran's nuclear programme to Russian news agency Ria Novosti in Moscow. The article appeared in both English and Russian.
Hugh Griffiths was widely quoted regarding the origin of the aeroplane recently seized in Bangkok carrying weapons. See the special report above.
Gunilla Herolf was interviewed by several media outlets on the occasion of the Prague Security Conference on 20 November (see above). An interview in English was published on the Czech daily news website Aktualne.cz. Another interview was broadcast by Czech television channel CT24 .
Paul Holtom and Mark Bromley participated in a feature on worldwide armaments broadcast on the Austrian TV current affairs programme Weltjournal.
|
|
|
|
|
SIPRI Senior Researcher Linda Jakobson (Finland) has been appointed Acting Director for the SIPRI Programme on China and Global Security. She joined SIPRI in March 2009 and her research focuses on China's foreign and security policy as well as regional security issues in north east Asia. She previously worked for 10 years for the Finnish Institute of International Affairs as Director of the China Programme and Senior Researcher. She is based in Beijing.
Dr May-Britt U. Stumbaum (Germany) joined SIPRI this month as a Senior Researcher and Head of Stockholm-based activities within the China and Global Security Programme. The focus of her research work is on EU-China relations and security policy, including common responses to global challenges and the transfer of dual-use technologies. Previously, she worked as Fritz Thyssen Fellow at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center and at several renowned European think tanks.
|
|
| PUBLICATIONS |
|
|
Recent publications
|
|
SIPRI Fact Sheet
North Korea's nuclear test explosion, 2009
Vitaly Fedchenko
This new SIPRI Fact Sheet gathers the evidence collected since North Korea conducted a nuclear test on 25 May and explains how international agencies and the scientific community were able to determine details of the explosion's location, nature and size.To download the Fact Sheet click here.
|
|
|
SIPRI Background Paper
Arms transfers to East and Southern Africa
Pieter D. Wezeman
Arms flows to East and Southern Africa, which originate from a wide diversity of countries, are relatively small. However even small volumes of arms can play a major role in armed violence and can be an economic burden. Small arms and light weapons are commonly used in violent conflicts in the region. To download the Background Paper click here.
|
|
|
|
|
SIPRI Policy Paper no. 25
China's Expanding Role in Peacekeeping: Prospects and Policy Implications
Bates Gill and Chin-hao Huang
China has dramatically increased its participation in UN peace operations in recent years. This timely Policy Paper offers new insights into the development of China's engagement in multilateral peacekeeping and the factors and debates that underlie it. The report also examines what these new trends mean for multilateral peacekeeping and for China's major security partners. Finally, it makes policy-oriented recommendations on how China and the international community can build on this unique opportunity to strengthen multilateral peacekeeping and to firmly establish a new, more positive international role for China. To download the Policy Paper click here.
|
|
|
Map of Multilateral Peace Operation Deployments, September 2009
This SIPRI map presents a snapshot of multilateral peace operation deployments worldwide in September 2009. Using data drawn from the SIPRI Multilateral Peace Operations Database, it shows where missions are taking place, how large they are and which organizations and coalitions are conducting them. The map is in A3 format. To download the map click here.
|
|
|
SIPRI Background Paper
The EU non-proliferation clause: a preliminary assessment
Lina Grip
The European Union introduced the non-proliferation clause in 2003 as a way to encourage its non-EU partners to enhance their participation in and implementation of multilateral non-proliferation instruments. This paper examines how the EU has fared--and sometimes failed--in its efforts to include the WMD clause in agreements with third countries. To download the Background Paper click here. |
|
|
|
|
SIPRI Yearbook 2009: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security
The 40th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook include coverage of developments during 2008 in major armed conflicts, multilateral peace operations, military expenditure, arms production, international arms transfers, world nuclear forces and fissile material stocks, nuclear arms control and non-proliferation, reducing security threats from chemical and biological materials, conventional arms control, controls on security-related international transfers and multilateral arms embargoes. Read more here. To order a copy, click here. |
 |
|
SIPRI Yearbook 2008 in Ukrainian
The Ukrainian translation of SIPRI Yearbook 2008: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security has now been published and is available from the Razumkov Centre-Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies (UCEPS), Kyiv. The translation was funded by a grant from the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport, which also supports Chinese and Russian translations. For more information, contact the Razumkov Centre. For more on translations of the SIPRI Yearbook and the Yearbook summary, click here. |
|
|
|
Other publications
Sameh Aboul-Enein and Dr Bharath Gopalaswamy, 'The missile regime: verification, test bans and free zones', Disarmament Forum, no. 4, 2009. Dr Gopalaswamy is a guest researcher at SIPRI.
|
|
|
|
© SIPRI 2009. ISSN 1654-8264. Contact SIPRI by email: sipri@sipri.org; telephone: +46 8/655 97 00; fax: +46 8/655 97 33;
or post: SIPRI, Signalistgatan 9, SE-169 70 Solna, Sweden, or visit us online at www.sipri.org
|