Presented by Christelle Rigual for SIPRI at the 10th biennial International Security Forum (ISF), held in Geneva, 22 to 24 April. For more information, visit the ISF 2013 website: http://www.isf.ethz.ch/

1. Small Arms Transfers:
Authorized but Unseen
23 April 2013
10th International Security Forum 2013
Christelle Rigual, Small Arms Survey

2. Presentation Outline
■ What are undocumented authorized small
arms transfers?
■ Which states fail to provide full info. on their
international transfers?

3. WHAT ARE UNDOCUMENTED AUTHORIZED
SMALL ARMS TRANSFERS?
Section I

4. Authorized Transfers
• Transfers are: ‘activities of international trade
comprising export, import, transit, trans-shipment and
brokering’ (Arms Trade Treaty, Art. 2, §2) of small
arms, light weapons, their parts, accessories, and
ammunitions
• Authorized Transfers: ‘international transfers that are
authorized by the importing, exporting, or transit states.
(Dreyfus, Marsh and Schroeder, 2009, p. 9–10).
• Transparent transfers are reported through national
and/or international instruments.

5. Undocumented transfers: a typology
• Undocumented authorized transfers
– No reports, partial report or misreport of authorized
transfers by major exporters/producers
– From minor exporters/producers
• Transfers from previous imports or from surpluses
• Undocumented re-exports (including unauthorized re-exports)
• Illicit transfers
– Unauthorized transfers
– Diversion (from surpluses/stocks/transfers of lawful users)
– Authorized but contradicting international standards

6. WHICH STATES FAIL TO PROVIDE FULL INFO. ON
THEIR INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS?
Section II

7. Gaps in Transparency
• Top ten least transparent
countries, according to the Small
Arms Survey Transparency
Barometer 2012 (among major
exporters)
Least transparent major
exporters , 2010
1 Iran
1 North Korea
1 United Arab Emirates
4 South Africa
5 Saudi Arabia
6 Russian Federation
7 Singapore
8 China
9 Taiwan
10 Cyprus
10 Brazil
Source: Lazarevic, 2012, p. 311

8. Major Exporters
and Undocumented Transfers
• Selected Major actors under-reporting (i,.e.
not reporting all categories of weapons, missing
partners …)
» Belgium
» China
» Russia
» United States

9. Minor Exporters
and Undocumented Transfers
• Undocumented re-exports from state stockpiles
– Angola deliveries of light weapons and ammunitions to
Côte d’Ivoire in 2002
– Albanian surpluses delivered to Benghazi in 2011

10. Unauthorized Re-exports
• Authorized import of weapons, with provision of end-user
certificate, then violated by the importing country who re-
exports the weapons to an unauthorized end-user.
– United Arab Emirates and Qatar’s Swiss re-exports
– Sudan re-transfers

11. Concluding Remarks
■ Many routes for undocumented
authorized transfers
– Nationally authorized but no reported
– Might contradict international standards
■ Many possible untransparent actors
– Major exporting countries under-reporting
– Less known actors (non-exporters/producers)
exporting from surpluses/previous imports

12. SMALL ARMS SURVEY 2012 • MOVING TARGETS
Small Arms Survey 2012
Moving Targets
23 April 2013
10th International Security Forum
Any questions?
www.smallarmssurvey.org