Prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence at the International Criminal Court
SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security no. 2009/1
by Ashley Dallman

Despite growing awareness and intensified condemnation of sexual violence in conflict zones in the past decade, rape and other forms of sexual violence continue to be widely used weapons in conflicts around the world. The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first mechanism for holding leaders of states accountable for genocide and other serious international crimes, including gender crimes. Yet, nearly seven years after its establishment, the ICC has difficulties in fulfilling its double role to be both a symbol of deterrence and a catalyst for the elimination of sexual violence in armed conflict. This SIPRI Insights paper looks into the strengths and weaknesses of the ICC and thereby provides an important input for the upcoming Review Conference of the Rome Statute in 2010. The author, Ashley Dallman, is a former member of the SIPRI Armed Conflicts and Conflict Management Programme.

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(Stockholm, 12 May 2009) Air cargo companies involved in illicit or destabilizing arms transfers to African conflict zones have also been repeatedly contracted to deliver humanitarian aid and support peacekeeping operations, according to a report released today.

New data released on April 27 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reveal a significant rise in arms transfers to the Middle East. There were also increases in arms deliveries to East Asia, the Caucasus and Pakistan. The USA remains the world’s largest exporter, followed by Russia and Germany. Access the completely updated data set and full background report , which is based on unbiased information gathered by the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. Read the press release here and in Swedish here. To book expert interviews, phone Kristofer at +46 8 655 9776 or Stephanie at +46 8 655 9747.

Enforcing European Union Law on Exports of Dual-use Goods
SIPRI Research Report no. 24
by Anna Wetter

The report introduces international and European export control arrangements covering dual-use goods, focusing particularly on the EC Dual-use Regulation. It also examines and critiques how the EU member states fulfil their European and international obligations in relation to dual-use export controls. Four in-depth case studies present the current dual-use export control law and enforcement systems in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, along with accounts of real-life investigations and prosecutions. The author, Anna Wetter, is a former member of the SIPRI Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme.

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The European research network EU-CONSENT, of which SIPRI is a member, published the latest edition of its biannual report, EU-27 Watch, in April 2009. Based on surveys in EU member and candidate states, it gives a comparative picture of debates on European integration and current developments in European politics. Topics discussed include:

• The EU in 2009 - a reassuring outlook even in times of crisis?
• 2009: A year of opportunities and uncertainties?
• Transatlantic relations renewed after President Bush: top priorities
• Financial crisis and challenges of global governance: the EU response
• Looking back to the French Presidency
• Prospects for ENP and enlargement after Georgia
  

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Collected speeches of former SIPRI Director Alyson J. K. Bailes

On the occasion of her 60th birthday, the Institute of International Affairs of the University of Iceland publishes a collection of the speeches and writings of Alyson J. K. Bailes, former SIPRI Director, and her colleagues. The contents reflect and comment on developments in international security in the period 2005–2008.

For more information click here and download the report here

Reviewing NATO's nuclear policy
by Ian Anthony

With support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, SIPRI has produced a report that examines the role that nuclear weapons could and should play in NATO. In 2009 NATO is likely to begin a process of updating the current version of its Strategic Concept, which dates from 1999.

The SIPRI report, written by SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Ian Anthony, describes and analyses the issues that should be the main focus of this wider debate. Can and should nuclear deterrence be tailored to a narrower set of discrete circumstances than was historically the case? What should be the future of short-range delivery systems for nuclear weapons, including US nuclear weapons based in Europe?

Download the report here

Asia's New Multilateralism: Cooperation, Competition, and the Search for Community
By Bates Gill, SIPRI Director, and Michael Green, CSIS and Georgetown University

This significant new edited volume of analytical essays by 16 respected scholars from across the Asia-Pacific region is released today in Washington, DC, along with 'Strategic views on Asian regionalism', the results of a recent survey of Asia-Pacific elites.

For more information click here

Reporting transfers of small arms and light weapons to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, 2007
SIPRI Background Paper
by Paul Holtom

This paper details and analyses UN member states’ reporting of international transfers of small arms and light weapons (SALW) to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) for 2007. Its author, Dr Paul Holtom of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, presented the findings to the 2009 UNROCA Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) in Geneva on 17 February.

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China's expanding peacekeeping role: its significance and the policy implications
SIPRI Policy Brief
by Bates Gill and Chin-hao Huang

China’s participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations has dramatically expanded. China initially viewed UN operations with scepticism and often questioning their legitimacy. This cautious view changed from the late 1980s. Over the 20 years since the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) made its first peacekeeping contribution in 1989, China has steadily increased its deployments. It is now the fourteenth largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, ahead of three other permanent members of the UN Security Council—Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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The CFE Treaty one year after its unilateral suspension: a forlorn treaty?
SIPRI Policy Brief
by Zdzislaw Lachowski

One year after Russia’s unilateral suspension of the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty), it is time to reassess the condition and prospects of the CFE regime. This Policy Brief gives an overview of the issues that have dogged the CFE process and that led up to the Russian action. It outlines the situation that the parties to the treaty find themselves in now and assesses the prospects for conventional arms control in Europe.

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The Supreme Court, the Bush Administration and Guantánamo Bay
SIPRI Background Paper
by Kirsten Soder

The rules and procedures established by the Bush Administration for trying terrorist suspects at Guantánamo Bay before military commissions have met widespread criticism and have been among the many controversial aspects of the ‘global war on terrorism’. This new SIPRI Background Paper gives a brief overview of the military commissions policy and the legal challenges they have faced in the USA’s highest court.

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Chemical and Biochemical Non-lethal Weapons: Political and Technical Aspects
SIPRI Policy Paper No. 23
by Ronald G. Sutherland

This Policy Paper describes and analyses biological and chemical substances that have the potential to be used as weapons or can improve the efficacy of other, more traditional, weapons.

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South Ossetia and Abkhazia: placing the conflict in context
SIPRI Policy Brief
by Ekaterina Stepanova

International discourse related to the August conflict in and around South Ossetia has been dominated by comparisons between Kosovo and South Ossetia and the Russia–West ‘strategic rivalry’ framework. This Policy Brief argues for the need to go beyond these simplistic frameworks.

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SIPRI Yearbook 2008 launch, London, 4 November
Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Professor Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics
Dr Bates Gill, Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, SIPRI

Stemming destabilizing arms transfers
SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security No. 2008/3
by Hugh Griffiths and Mark Bromley

Air safety regulations are an underutilized but potentially promising tool for stemming the flow of destabilizing arms transfers. This paper examines the impact of EU air safety regulations on the activities of air cargo operators that are suspected of being involved in destabilizing arms transfers.

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Read more about SIPRI’s Countering Illicit Trafficking-Mechanism Assessment Project (CIT-MAP)

The European research network EU-CONSENT, of which SIPRI is a member, published the latest edition of its biannual report, EU-27 Watch, in October 2008. Based on surveys in EU member and candidate states, it gives a comparative picture of debates on European integration and current developments in European politics. Topics discussed include:

• The EU after the Irish referendum.
• French Presidency and the future of the EU.
• Public opinion and European integration.
• Political leadership in the EU.
• Concentric circles around the EU?
• The first ten years of the Euro.

• Other current issues of high salience in the member states.