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WEAPONS

Vol. XVIII x No. 4

APRIL-MAY 2006

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A growing business

TThe world military expenditure in 2004 was estimated to have been $1.03 trillion. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, there was, lately, a 6% annual increase in the arms trade. That remains a highly profitable business worldwide.

Armaments remain a big business worldwide. According to the "SIPRI Yearbook 2005: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security," world military expenditure in 2004 was estimated to have been $1.03 trillion in current dollars.

The document, a report on the arms industry annually presented by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, shows that the average annual rate of increase in military expenditure during 1995-2004 was 2.4% in real terms. This period, however, can be divided into two: first, the post Cold War when there was reduction in military spending which culminated around 1998; second, when there was an increased trend in 1998 which accelerated to an annual average increase of around 6% in real terms over the three-year period 2002-2004.

The report notes that, as a global average, 2004 military expenditures corresponded to $162 per capita or 2.6% of the world′s gross domestic product. There was, however, a wide variation between regions and countries.
Military expenditure by the United States made up 47% of the world′s total. U.S. spending increased rapidly during 2002-2004 as a result of the fight against terrorism and the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the SIPRI report, there was a growing debate about the sustainability of the current U.S. military efforts due to its impact on the federal budget deficit and on economic growth.

Five big sellers

SIPRI data show that the value of the combined arms sales of the top 100 companies in the world, excluding China, rose to 25% in 2003 or $236 billion (in current dollars). Of these 100 companies, 38 are U.S.-based. One is based in Canada. These 39 accounted for 63.2% of arms sales by the top 100, while 42 European companies (including 6 based in Russia) accounted for another 30.5% of sales.

The report notes that only limited information was available on commercial arms sales worldwide. "This lack of data," it said, "made it difficult to establish a firm foundation for political and public discussion of issues relating to arms production and arms sales."

Overall arms sales were concentrated in a small group of countries. France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States made up 81% of all deliveries in 2000-2004. In the realm of international trade in conventional arms, Russia replaced the United States as the main supplier of major weapons during 2000-2004. But SIPRI speculated that Russia's lead could diminish in the future due to the old technology of its equipment.

The top buyers of arms in 2004 were China and India. China, though almost completely dependent on Russia for its arms imports, is now developing its own weapons. And India, another major Russian client, is looking at buying from other suppliers, including the United States.

The European Union maintains an arms embargo against China, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown but is now considering lifting the restrictions. In fact, the report says, the embargo has not stopped several European countries from supplying military technology to China. The United States strongly opposes lifting the embargo, in order to prevent a Chinese military buildup, and it has threatened the EU with sanctions if the embargo is lifted.

Nuclear stalling

Arms control is still fraught with problems. Regarding illegal nuclear, biological and chemical weapon programs, the SIPRI report states: "For almost a decade, there has been little progress in multilateral arms control in general and some processes have suffered severe setbacks." Moreover, states in a number of instances have violated their obligations under arms control treaties, the report adds.

The SIPRI considers that developments in relation to nuclear arms during 2004 "raised serious questions about the future of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and its principal legal foundation, the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons."

Evidence surfaced about a clandestine network supplying Pakistan's nuclear program. The network reportedly involved supplying nuclear technology to Iran and Libya and possibly to other states. Controversy continued as well over the nature of Iran's nuclear program. And there was little progress made in international talks on the future of North Korea's nuclear program.

In addition, the states that were party to the 1968 Treaty are deadlocked over the continuing implementation of its provisions and have failed to even agree on an agenda for the 2005 Review Conference.

There was positive news though: the decision of Libya to implement its December 2003 pledge to abandon and dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

The situation is better regarding chemical weapons as countries continue to destroy their stocks. Out of 71,373 tons of declared chemical weapons, 10,698 tons had been verifiably destroyed as of last Jan. 31. The largest remaining stock to be destroyed is in Russia for which further international assistance was agreed upon already in 2004.

By contrast, there has been no progress in implementing the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe as member countries of NATO and Russia failed to resolve their differences.

Progress did continue, nevertheless, in reducing the problems of mines worldwide although the report notes that the dilemma remains: to choose between a total ban and adopting restraint in their application.

Peace missions

The number of peace missions continued at a high level in 2004. More than 64,000 military and civilian police personnel and 4,000 civilian personnel were deployed in 21 U.N. missions. In addition, 35 peace missions, with a total of 225,385 military and civilian personnel, were carried out by regional organizations and U.N.-sanctioned coalitions of states.

In many cases, the missions were also involved in aiding the construction of a new state. This task was difficult, the report notes. Afghanistan is an example of the complexities involved: the continuing problem over the demobilization of armed groups.

The report also notes the political difficulties in carrying out the peace missions. Parliaments, both at the national and the international levels, have little possibility in influencing or judging international peace missions. "Their near-exclusion from the sensitive judgments surrounding intervention seems incongruous in an age that generally emphasizes democracy," the report states.

The Vatican recently spoke out about arms trade and disarmament. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations, in his address to the General Assembly last September, reasserted the "urgent need to work locally, nationally, regionally and globally to eradicate small arms and light weapons."

In his speech, the Archbishop recommended that serious attention be paid to the high death toll caused by illicit brokering, traffic and sale of small arms and light weapons. He concluded: "That more money and intelligence is used for death than for life is a scandal that should be of the highest concern to all nations."

At the end of the UN General Assembly, the Organization′s Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, qualified as "a real disgrace" as the biggest "embassy" of heads of State and Government ever gathered in New York couldn′t agree on how to revamp global non-proliferation rules and how to move toward global disarmament. Are millions of dollars more worthy than millions of lives?

Small Arms - Weapons of Mass Destruction

War on terror is fuelling the proliferation of weapons. The growing availability of small arms (from pistols, machine guns and other firearms to landmines, grenades, mortars, and light missiles) has been a major factor in the increase in number of conflicts, and of organized and violent crime. It also plays a big role in hindering smoother rebuilding and development after a conflict has ended and makes peace more precarious and facilitates the reopening of wars. It is estimated that:

– Half a million people, one a minute, are killed by conventional arms every year. The majority (between 60 and 90%) of direct deaths in violent conflicts are caused by small arms. In addition, 1.5 million people are wounded by small arms each year.

– Small arms kill 200,000 people in ‘peaceful’ nations each year in homicides, suicides, unintentional shootings and shootings by police.

–There are 639 million small arms circulating in the world today, produced by more than 1,135 companies in 98 countries.

– Nearly 7 million commercial handguns and long guns are produced every year. Around 16 billion units of ammunition were produced during 2001.

– Over 59% of small arms are privately owned, 38% are in the hands of government forces, while less than 3% are held by the police.

– These lethal weapons are relatively cheap, highly portable, easily concealable, long lasting, and so easy to operate that a child, as young as eight years old can carry and use them. These characteristics make small arms particularly susceptible to illicit trafficking. They are often sold illegally in exchange for hard currency or goods such as diamonds, drugs or other contraband. Estimates of the black market trade in small arms range from US$2 to10 billion a year.

– Because they are so light and easy to handle, 300,000 children are fighting in conflicts around the world. As many as 70,000 boys serve in Burma's national army.

– Small arms and light weapons spark, fuel and prolong conflicts; obstruct relief programs; undermine peace initiatives; exacerbate human rights abuses; hamper development; and foster a "culture of violence."

- They proliferate through both legal and illegal trade. "While international attention is focused on the need to control weapons of mass destruction, the trade in conventional weapons continues to operate in a legal and moral vacuum," says OXFAM. The lack of arms controls allows some to profit from the misery of many.

- As Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, has said, the death toll from small arms "dwarfs that of all other weapon systems and, in most years, greatly exceeds the toll of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. In terms of the carnage they cause, small arms could well be described as weapons of mass destruction – yet there is still no global non-proliferation regime to limit their spread."

(For further information see: www.iansa.org and www.smallarmssurvey.org)

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