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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 10/05
Shining a Light on Small Arms Exports: The Record of State Transparency
Maria Haug, Martin Langvandslien, Lora Lumpe and Nic Marsh
January, 2002
Abstract
The proliferation of small arms and light weapons directly enables a horrifying number of deaths and injuries around the world each year, and it poses a grave threat to the stability and development of many countries, as well as to the success of UN-mandated peace operations. One of the most meaningful and straightforward initiatives concerned governments could undertake is to provide full unilateral transparency around the small arms shipments they are authorizing for import or export.
While several states began to provide some information about their weapons imports and exports during the 1990s, none provide full, accurate, comprehensible, and timely reports on their small arms shipments abroad and on the transfers they licensed for export in the preceding year. Only two countries provide some limited public and parliamentary awareness before the weapons are shipped.
