Multilateral peace operations are increasingly confronting a set of interrelated and mutually reinforcing security challenges that are relatively new to them, that do not respect borders, and that have causes and effects which cut right across the international security, peacebuilding and development agendas.
Article 36 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions imposes a practical obligation on states to review the legality of all new weapons, means or methods of warfare before they are used in an armed conflict. To encourage more widespread compliance with the obligation of Article 36 and support confidence building in the area of legal reviews, SIPRI has developed a compendium of existing national Article 36 review procedures.
Additive manufacturing (AM), also referred to as ‘3D printing’, is a rapidly developing technology. AM enables the production of objects of virtually any shape by depositing and bonding together successive layers of material. AM machines are increasingly capable of producing a variety of items for aerospace and missile applications which are subject to dual-use export controls. The increasing capabilities of AM machines—in combination with their reliance on intangible transfers of technology (ITT)—have raised concerns in the multilateral export control regimes.
Multilateral peace operations are increasingly confronting a set of interrelated and mutually reinforcing security challenges that are relatively new to them, that do not respect borders, and that have causes and effects which cut right across the international security, peacebuilding and development agendas.
This paper draws from an online database 'Mapping ATT-relevant Cooperation and Assistance Activities' built by SIPRI and the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa in 2015 to cover sub-Saharan Africa, and expanded by SIPRI and the UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2016 to cover Latin America and the Caribbean.
Climate change is making the Arctic region—and its expected natural resources—more accessible. Overlapping claims by the five Arctic littoral states—Canada, Denmark, Norway, the United States (all of which are members of NATO) and Russia—have raised concerns about future conflict in the region and have stimulated new thinking about the security situation in the Arctic. All five states started to strengthen their military presence and capabilities in the Arctic even before the rise in tensions between Russia and NATO members observed since 2014.
National implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will require states to strengthen their arms transfer control systems and to implement measures for preventing and addressing the diversion of conventional arms, particularly small arms and light weapons (SALW). Many states will require financial and technical assistance to help them with this process. This need is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa where many states have been severely affected by the illicit trade in, and proliferation of, SALW.
The Black Sea region is experiencing a changing military balance. The six littoral states (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) intensified their efforts to build up their military potential after Russia’s takeover of Crimea and the start of the internationalized civil war in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The Black Sea region is experiencing a changing military balance. The six littoral states (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) intensified their efforts to build up their military potential after Russia’s takeover of Crimea and the start of the internationalized civil war in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The Black Sea region is experiencing a changing military balance. The six littoral states (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) intensified their efforts to build up their military potential after Russia’s takeover of Crimea and the start of the internationalized civil war in eastern Ukraine in 2014.