July/August 2009

Afghanistan's troubled prospects

Tim Foxley, SIPRI Researcher

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SIPRI arms trafficking report to guide Dutch, EU policy

The Netherlands will follow the recommendation of the SIPRI report Air Transport and Destabilizing Commodity Flows to introduce a general code of conduct for air transport companies, according to Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders. In answer to a parliamentary question on 18 June, Koenders said further that the Netherlands will raise at European Union level the issue of monitoring air cargo companies involved in drug and arms smuggling. The minister reported that Sweden has indicated that it will use its current EU Presidency to push for the EU to implement the SIPRI report's recommendations. SIPRI will be supporting the EU in these efforts.

Read the statement in Dutch here. Download Air Transport and Destabilizing Commodity Flows by Hugh Griffiths and Mark Bromley, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 24, published in May 2009, here. Read an executive summary of the report, including the recommendations, here. For more information about SIPRI's work in this area, contact SIPRI Researcher Hugh Griffiths.

SIPRI events and activities

28 Sep. 15.00-17.00 European Parliament Brussels		SIPRI Yearbook 2009, Brussels launch ISIS Europe will host a seminar for European parliamentarians, the public and media to present key findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2009 at the European Parliament. Speakers will be Robert Cooper, Director-General for External and Politico-Military Affairs at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union (tbc) and SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill. Ana Gomes, a member of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Human Rights and Subcommittee on Security and Defence, will chair the event. Further details will be available at www.sipri.org from early September. To register your interest in attending the event, contact SIPRI Communications Officer Stephanie Blenckner.
21 Sep. 9.30-16.00 Mediterranean Museum Stockholm		Restore Trust, Rebuild Bridges: Seminar on Mediterranean relations On the International Day of Peace SIPRI will co-host with the Anna Lindh Foundation a one-day event bringing together civil society representatives, experts and media from around the Mediterranean to discuss challenges for intercultural dialogue in the region and to exchange good practice in reconciliation and peacebuilding initiatives. The seminar is part of Restore Trust, Rebuild Bridges, a civil society initiative launched by the Anna Lindh Foundation and the UN Alliance of Civilizations to promote dialogue, reconciliation and peace in the Mediterranean region. Leading figures at the event will include André Azoulay, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, and Lakhdar Brahimi, SIPRI Board Member and former UN peace envoy. SIPRI Deputy Director Daniel Nord will chair. For more information and to register for the event, contact SIPRI Communications Officer Stephanie Blenckner.
16 Sep. 9.30-11.30 SIPRI Stockholm		Panel on China's role in global climate security Co-hosted by SIPRI and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), this panel event will examine how climate security concepts are changing security thinking in China as well as the impacts of climate change on China's broader international role. The expert panelists will be Karl Hallding, SEI Senior Researcher and China expert, and Linda Jakobson, Beijing-based Senior Researcher in SIPRI's Programme on China and Global Security. SIPRI Director and China expert Dr Bates Gill will chair the event. For more information, contact SIPRI Communications Officer Stephanie Blenckner.
10 Sep. SIPRI Stockholm		SIPRI lecture, Robot Wars: The Ethical Issues Robotic weapons are likely to play a central role in future wars. Unmanned systems (UMS) for military roles are being developed and deployed by many countries. Dr Rob Sparrow of Monash University in Australia will offer a comprehensive survey of the ethical issues raised by the use of UMS in warfare. To register for the event, contact SIPRI Communications Officer Stephanie Blenckner.						Dr Sparrow, Australia
4 Sep. 10.00-11.30 Rosenbad Stockholm		Foreign Ministers Roundtable on the Eastern Partnership: Challenges and Opportunities The Eastern Partnership is an EU initiative that aims to enhance the EU's relations with its eastern neighbours Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Its aims include concluding new association agreements that include free trade agreements, gradual integration of the partners into the EU economy, and visa liberalization. The Eastern Partnership also tackles issues such as illegal immigration, energy security, democracy and good governance. This timely event will move the discussion forward on critical topics of interest to the EU, its partners and the Euro-Atlantic community as a whole. Key panelists will be Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Cristian Diaconescu, Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs. Frank Belfrage, Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, will offer welcoming remarks and Miroslav Lajcák, the Slovak Minister for Foreign Affairs, will give a short address. The roundtable and a question-and-answer session will be chaired by SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill. For further information, please contact SIPRI Communications Officer Stephanie Blenckner.
3-4 Sep. SIPRI Stockholm		First Advisory Group meeting of the SIPRI Project on Security, Democratization and Good Governance in Africa The Advisory Group for the SIPRI Project on Security and Governance in Africa will hold its first meeting. The project, which is funded by the Open Society Institute, aims to increase knowledge about security and governance in Africa and to help African civil society organizations in this area to strengthen their advocacy work. The meeting will provide strategic guidance for the project and help to fine tune its core objectives and activities. For more information contact the project coordinator, SIPRI Researcher Olawale Ismail or the programme leader, SIPRI Senior Fellow Elisabeth Sköns.
RECENT
25 Aug. Buenos Aires		Launch of the Spanish translation of the SIPRI Research Report Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict Originally published in March 2008, Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects, SIPRI Research Report no. 23, by Ekaterina Stepanova, has challenged conventional thinking on how to understand and address terrorism in asymmetrical conflicts. In August, the Argentinian Ministry of Defence published a Spanish translation of the entire report in a special edition of its journal Cuadernos de Actualidad en Defensa y Estrategia, with a preface by Defence Minister Dra Nilda Garré. Dr Stepanova, former leader of the Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme at SIPRI and now at IMEMO, presented the report at the launch event. To order the Spanish translation of the report, contact Dr Khatchik DerGhougasian, Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Defense and Professor at San Andrés University. For information on the English version, click here.
13 July Beijing		SIPRI expert addresses Chinese book launch SIPRI Senior Researcher Linda Jakobson was a guest speaker at the launch of the report The Rise of China's Power and Development Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The report was written by a team headed by Professor Chu Shulong of Tsinghua University. The event was chaired by Professor Xue Lan, Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University and the other guest speakers included Xu Bu, Deputy Director General of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ding Gang, Senior Journalist of People's Daily. For more information, click here and contact SIPRI Senior Researcher Linda Jakobson.

SIPRI in the media

SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill commented on China-India relations for an article by Agence France-Presse India.

SIPRI Researcher Hugh Griffiths was quoted in an Associated Press article on the use by NATO and US contractors in Afghanistan of Russian helicopter companies with poor safety records that have been named in arms trafficking-related reports. The article was carried in the online editions of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and the Philippine TV news show GMA News.TV among others.

SIPRI Senior Researcher Siemon Wezeman commented on US conventional arms sales for Inter Press Service. He also addressed the alleged sale of 1000 armoured personnel carriers to Myanmar by Ukraine in the Straits Times. The latter article can be read at the Democracy for Burma blog.

SIPRI Researcher Carina Solmirano spoke to the BBC on the political situation in Venezuela.

Dr Paul Holtom, SIPRI Senior Researcher and leader of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Project, was interviewed by BBC World on the discovery of Swedish anti-tank weapons in the possession of FARC guerillas in Colombia. SIPRI Researcher Pieter Wezeman was interviewed by Swedish Radio (in English) and by the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat and joined the Swedish Minister of Trade and others in a Swedish Radio panel discussion on the issue.

The new SIPRI Background Paper Arms Flows to the Conflict in Chad, by Pieter Wezeman (see below), was reviewed on African news website DefenceWeb.

SIPRI job openings

Programme Leader SIPRI Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme
The study of armed conflicts has been a central pillar of SIPRI's work since the institute's foundation in 1966. Today, the Programme on Armed Conflict and Conflict Management provides the main platform within SIPRI for critical research, analysis, and recommendations in relation to the nature, major actors, and overall trends in conflict and armed violence, peace operations, and post-conflict peacebuilding activities. SIPRI seeks a high-profile, dynamic and experienced individual to lead its Programme on Armed Conflicts and Conflict Management. Read more here.

New Staff at SIPRI

Dr Susan Jackson (USA) joined SIPRI in July as a Researcher and Head of the Arms Production Project under the Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. Her research interests include globalization and militarization, in particular the linkages between state and corporate global competitiveness and military spending. Dr Jackson holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Arizona, USA.

Carina Solmirano (Argentina) joined SIPRI in July as a Researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. Her research interests include peace and security in Latin America, disarmament and arms control, and security sector reform. She holds an MA in International Security (2006) and is a PhD candidate in International Studies at the University of Denver, USA.

Dr Olawale Ismail (Nigeria) joined SIPRI in July 2009 as Researcher on the Security and Governance in Africa Project under the Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. Dr Ismail's research interests include peacebuilding, African security, security sector reform and governance, armed conflict, youth, and linkages between conflict, security and development. He holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, UK.

Dr May-Britt U. Stumbaum (Germany), currently Fritz Thyssen Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, joins SIPRI as an Associated Senior Researcher from 1 September 2009. She will join SIPRI full time as the China Global Security Program's Senior Researcher and Executive Director in Stockholm from December 2009.

New publications

		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 Handbook Applied Biosecurity for Life Science Laboratories Peter Clevestig Biosecurity covers a broad spectrum of potential risks and threats, from criminal activities to bioterrorism and espionage. This handbook focuses on the laboratory-related activities and basic components of applied biosecurity that are relevant to all laboratory employees. The role played by laboratory managers and principal investigators in safeguarding laboratory assets and the employees under their supervision is also highlighted. The handbook provides guidance for personnel who work with infectious pathogens and toxins that may affect the health of humans, animals and plants. It aims to engage scientists, laboratory employees and students in laboratory biosecurity, and to provide practical advice that will ensure the secure handling and storage of biological materials. To order the handbook or download the PDF, click here.
		SIPRI Fact Sheet series Multilateral Peacekeeping Operations, 2008: Africa, Asia, Europe and Personnel Kirsten Soder This new series of fact sheets gives a snapshot of the current status of UN and non-UN peacekeeping. Three fact sheets cover the three world regions where most operations and peacekeepers are deployed: Africa, Asia and Europe. A fourth looks at recent trends in the types and numbers of personnel deployed worldwide. Read more and download the fact sheets here.
		SIPRI Background Paper Arms Transfers to the Middle East Sam Perlo-Freeman The levels of military expenditure and arms imports in the Middle East have increased in recent years. The region receives substantial major conventional arms transfers relative to its economic size. Many states in the region are modernizing their military equipment holdings. 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.Read more and download the pdf here.
		SIPRI Background Paper Arms Flows to the Conflict in Chad Pieter D. Wezeman It is estimated that arms imports by Chad were five times higher in 2004-2008 than in 1999-2003. The rebel forces in Chad have obtained weapons from the Sudanese Government and from the large pool of weapons available throughout the region, although accurate information is scarce, especially about transfers of small arms and light weapons. Read more and download the pdf here.
		SIPRI Background Paper Arms Transfers to the Americas Mark Bromley Arms transfers to the Americas, particularly to South America, have risen sharply in recent years. Illicit transfers of small arms and light weapons can have a particularly destabilizing effect on all states in the region. A number of transparency and confidence-building measures have been developed. One of the series of SIPRI Background Papers prepared to inform discussions on the arms trade treaty. Read more and download the pdf here.
		SIPRI Policy Brief Addressing Drugs and Conflicts in Myanmar Ekaterina Stepanova This Policy Brief explains the parallel processes of conflict management and significant reduction in opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar's north-east during 1996-2006. Myanmar's success in this regard stands in sharp contrast to the surge in the opium economy in Afghanistan since 2001. Myanmar is now at a critical juncture. The decline in its opium economy could be reversed, to the detriment of regional and broader international security, without massive foreign investment in alternative development in the former poppy-growing areas. The Policy Brief argues that China would be the optimal donor. Read more here.
		Other publications SIPRI Guest Researcher Vincent Boulanin writes on the Swedish defence industry and the government's new policy regarding procurements for the Swedish Army in the latest issue of Nordiques. Jakobson, L., 'China's diplomacy toward Africa: drivers and constraints', International Relations of The Asia Pacific, July 2009 Stepanova, E., Terrorismo en el Conflicto Asimetrico: aspectos ideologicos i estructurales, SIPRI Research Report no. 23, in 'En Torno a la Asimetria', Special edition, Cuadernos de Actualidad en Defensa y Estrategia, no. 2 (Aug. 2009), 178 pp. (translated from the original English)