September 2011

In this issue:

• Libya at the crossroads—the challenge of consolidating peace (essay)
• SIPRI news
• SIPRI events and activities
• SIPRI in the media
• SIPRI staff news
• Recent publications

Libya at the crossroads—the challenge of consolidating peace

Bates Gill

Conference report The European Defence Market: Balancing Effectiveness and Responsibility now available

This report provides in-depth analysis of the rationale for a European arms market, how it could be realized, and its implications for European foreign and security policy. The report is authored by nine arms control and international security experts, including SIPRI Senior Researcher Mark Bromley and former SIPRI Director Alyson J. K. Bailes. It features texts prepared for and informed by discussions that took place in a conference co-organized by SIPRI at the Flemish Parliament in Brussels in November 2010. Mark Bromley contributes a chapter on the EU Common Position on arms exports and national export control policies. Alyson Bailes contributes an afterword, as well as co-editing the report, which is published by the Flemish Peace Institute. For more information contact Mark Bromley and download the report here.

Upcoming SIPRI events and activities

27 Oct. Yaoundé		Dissemination seminar on the problem of armed highway robbery in the border areas of Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Chad  Organized by the Centre Interdisciplinaire pour le Développement et les Droits Humains (CIPAD) in partnership with SIPRI, this seminar aims to present and discuss the findings of the country case study on the problem of armed highway robbery in the border areas of Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Chad, conducted within the SIPRI-Open Society Institute project on Africa Security and Governance. The speakers will be drawn from academia and civil society, and will include Dr Pascal Touoyem, author of the study and Director of CIPAD; Prof Joseph Mboui, Chairman of CIPAD and former Vice-President of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Executive Council; and Léon-Pascal Seudie, Contrôleur général de police and former UN Security Council police expert. For more information contact Pascal Touoyem at CIPAD or Dr Olawale Ismail or Dr Elisabeth Sköns at SIPRI.
19 Oct. London		SIPRI Yearbook 2011 event on corruption in the arms trade SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill, Andrew Feinstein, an expert on corruption in the arms trade and guest author in SIPRI Yearbook 2011, and an industry representative will act as panelists for a discussion of arms trade corruption and how to address it. The discussion will take place at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and be chaired by Professor Mary Kaldor, Director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, LSE, and SIPRI Governing Board member. Read more about the event here and contact SIPRI Communications Director Stephanie Blenckner for further information.
Recent SIPRI events and activities
14 Sep. London		Seminar on defence economics SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Head of the Military Expenditure Project, attended a seminar at the British Ministry of Defence also involving defence economists from the Australian, British and United States defence intelligence services and experts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Discussions covered developments in the Chinese and Iranian economies, and trends in military expenditure. Dr Perlo-Freeman presented SIPRI's work in the area of tracking military expenditure and discussed different scenarios for the development of military expenditure in the coming years. Contact Sam Perlo-Freeman for further information.
6 Sep. Copenhagen		Workshop on Arctic scenarios SIPRI Senior Researcher Bernt Berger of the China and Global Security Programme gave a presentation on China’s approach to Arctic affairs at a workshop on Arctic scenarios organized by the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Contact Bernt Berger for more information.
6 Sep. Berlin		SIPRI advises German Parliament on export controls SIPRI Chairman Göran Lennmarker and SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Sibylle Bauer of the Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme participated in a public hearing at the German Parliament on how to improve transparency and parliamentary control of arms exports. The hearing was initiated by the German Green Party. Read more here (in German) and contact Sibylle Bauer for further information.
1-2 Sep. Berlin		Workshop: the Future of Peace Operations in the Year 2025 SIPRI Senior Researcher Sharon Wiharta participated in a workshop entitled the Future of Peace Operations in the Year 2025, organized within the framework of the Zentrum für Internationale Friedenseinsätze (ZIF) project Peace Operations—Fit for the Future. The workshop, which was the first in a series of three, brought together an interdisciplinary group of experts and practitioners who derived future scenarios for peace operations. Read more about the project here.
31 Aug.-6 Sep. Bishkek		SIPRI expert in Kyrgyzstan for Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe conference SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Neil Melvin, Director of the Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme, participated in the annual Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) security conference, which took place in Bishkek. At the conference he presented on the EU's strategy towards Central Asia. During his visit to Kyrgyzstan, Dr Melvin also met Her Excellency President Roza Otunbayeva to discuss his recent report Promoting a Stable and Multiethnic Kyrgyzstan: Overcoming the Causes and Legacies of Violence. President Otunbayeva expressed her appreciation for the report and indicated that the Kyrgyz authorities would reprint it for distribution in the country. Download Promoting a Stable and Multiethnic Kyrgyzstan here. See also Dr Melvin’s new SIPRI Insights paper New Social Media and Conflict in Kyrgyzstan here. Contact Neil Melvin for further information.				Kyrgystan's President Roza Otunbayeva shakes hand with SIPRI's Dr Neil Melvin.

SIPRI in the media

SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Neil Melvin gave an interview on the security situation in the southern Caucasus to Azerbaijan-based News.AZ

SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Sibylle Bauer commented on German export controls in an article for Deutsche Welle's news website DW-World.

SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Mathieu Duchâtel and SIPRI Senior Researcher Pieter Wezeman commented on allegations that Chinese firms offered arms to the Gaddafi regime during the Libyan uprising for the New York Times and Voice of America, respectively.

Pieter Wezeman also addressed the issue of looted weapons in Libya for The Guardian, and discussed probable future trends in the Middle Eastern arms market in an article by Middle East news agency The Media Line, which was picked up by All Headline News.

SIPRI Research Coordinator Dr Ian Anthony gave an interview to Voice of Russia on current challenges for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

SIPRI Researcher Vitaly Fedchenko commented on the latest North Korean nuclear offer in a Reuters article.

A study by SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Susan Jackson on British government subsidies to the arms trade, produced for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), was referred to in articles about the recent London arms fair byThe Guardian and The Independent .

Recent publications

		SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security New Social Media and Conflict in Kyrgyzstan Neil Melvin and Tolkun Umaraliev During 2010 Kyrgyzstan experienced a conflict that took the country to the brink of civil war. This paper examines the complex and shifting role of new media such as blogs, social networking sites and multimedia platforms during the events of 2010, focusing on the period from the bloody overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April to the ethnic violence in the south of the country in June. The authors highlight specific social, economic, political and technical factors as shaping the influence of new media in situations of conflict. Read more here.
		SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security The 42nd edition of the SIPRI Yearbook includes coverage of developments during 2010 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, reduction of 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 Policy Paper Implementing an Arms Trade Treaty: Lessons on Reporting and Monitoring from Existing Mechanisms Paul Holtom and Mark Bromley This new Policy Paper provides the first comprehensive overview of existing UN instruments that require states to report on their arms transfers, transfer controls and enforcement measures. It outlines the types of information required to assess compliance with a future arms trade treaty (ATT), extracts lessons learned from the existing instruments and identifies areas of duplication. This report seeks to lay the foundation for a relevant and robust ATT reporting mechanism. This paper, along with the two Background Papers below, was launched at an event at the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty. Download the Policy Paper here.
		SIPRI Background Paper Transit and trans-shipment controls in an arms trade treaty Paul Holtom and Mark Bromley A large proportion of arms transfers transit through third countries. Therefore transit controls provide opportunities to strengthen state control at a stage when arms shipments are particularly vulnerable to diversion to illicit markets. This Background Paper provides an overview of existing international and regional agreements and best practices for controls on transit and trans-shipment. It discusses national implementation and enforcement of transit controls, paying particular attention to licensing and authorization, record keeping and information sharing as areas where an ATT could contribute to enhancing transit controls and their enforcement. Download the Background Paper here.
		SIPRI Background Paper Import controls and an arms trade treaty Paul Holtom and Mark Bromley Import controls represent a vital tool for helping to prevent cases of illicit diversion. They can also enable importer countries to play their part in preventing arms from being used to fuel conflicts or facilitate human rights abuses. This Background Paper provides an overview of existing international and regional agreements and best practices for controls on arms imports. It discusses national implementation and enforcement of import controls, paying particular attention to licensing procedures, customs controls and the production and issuing of end-user certificates and other similar documentation. Download the Background Paper here.
		SIPRI Policy Paper Conflict Minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Aligning Trade and Security Interventions Ruben de Koning Mineral resources have played a crucial role in fuelling protracted armed conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This new SIPRI Policy Paper examines the the prospects for and interactions between various trade- and security-related initiatives that are aimed at demilitarizing the supply chains of key minerals. It also describes the changing context in which such initiatives operate. Finally, it offers policy recommendations for how the Congolese Government and international actors can coordinate and strengthen their responses in order to break resource–conflict links in eastern DRC. Download the Policy Paper here.
		SIPRI Monograph Governing the Bomb: Civilian Control and Democratic Accountability of Nuclear Weapons edited by Hans Born, Bates Gill and Heiner Hänggi ISBN 978-0-19-958990-6 With a special emphasis on civilian control and democratic accountability, Governing the Bomb seeks to illuminate the structures and processes of nuclear weapon governance of eight nuclear-armed states: the USA, Russia, the UK, France and China as well as Israel, India and Pakistan. It examines the theoretical as well as practical functions and structures of those who possess the power to make nuclear decisions and those who have the practical means and physical opportunity to execute those decisions. Read more and order the book here.
		Other publications Hart, John, and Clevestig, Peter,‘A biological response’, Defence Management Journal,  no. 53 (summer 2011), pp. 126–28. Jackson, Susan: 'SIPRI assessment of UK arms export subsidies', for Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), May 2011. Read the report here.