Assessing Transparency in Small Arms Exports: The Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer (Research Note 20)

The Small Arms Survey’s annual Transparency Barometer is designed to encourage individual states to make public information about their transfers of small arms and light weapons, their parts, accessories, and ammunition.

It has been published as part of the annual flagship Small Arms Survey since 2004, capturing information on producers and countries that sell or donate significant surpluses.  It examines 52 countries that have declared—or are believed to have approved—small arms exports worth at least USD 10 million during at least one calendar year since 2001.

In order to assess countries’ transparency in their small arms exports, the Transparency Barometer evaluates:

•    national arms export reports;
•    reporting to the EU Report;
•    submissions to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade); and
•    information provided to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.

This Research Note—Assessing Transparency in Small Arms Exports: The Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer—has been released to explain and expand upon this year’s findings.  Detailed findings of the Barometer have also been published as a chapter of the Small Arms Survey 2012: Moving Targets.

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