SIPRI Update October 2022: Stockholm Security Conference, Northern Iraq, naval incidents, China in Afghanistan and more

Conducting research in the Sahel has become more challenging over the past 10 years, and the continuing deterioration of the security situation has restricted access to many areas. This SIPRI Insights paper provides an overview of the main challenges for researchers when conducting data collection in conflict-affected areas. Using a case study from the Liptako-Gourma region, the paper identifies and outlines how the project addressed specific challenges in this regard. The paper also highlights key considerations for researchers to take into account when carrying out data collection and fieldwork in conflict zones.

Read the SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security

Among the key tools that states that export arms and military equipment can adopt to help prevent and mitigate the diversion of military materiel are post-shipment on-site inspections. While a growing number of states have adopted and implemented these inspections, their wider use could further help to prevent diversion of military materiel. This SIPRI Policy Paper reviews barriers and challenges in implementing the tool, and looks at what steps can be taken at the multilateral level to expand discussion about post-shipment on-site inspections and help to support those states that are considering adopting this policy tool.

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This paper provides a broad overview of how multilateral peace operations have responded to cholera and Ebola epidemics and the HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 pandemics over the past 20 years. Such public health crises can be especially lethal in fragile and conflict-affected areas. The paper examines the ways that peace operations directly or indirectly have given support to epidemic/pandemic response measures and considers arguments against and in favour of more strategic involvement of peace operations in future epidemics and pandemics.

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It is undisputed that humans must retain responsibility for the development and use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) because machines cannot be held accountable for violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). However, the critical question of how, in practice, humans would be held responsible for IHL violations involving AWS has not featured strongly in the policy debate on AWS. This report aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of that very question by exploring how two central frameworks structuring the ascription of responsibility for IHL violations—namely the rules governing state responsibility and individual criminal responsibility—apply to the development and use of AWS.

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The Russian government has provided little information on military expenditure during the war with Ukraine that started in late February 2022. However, for a brief period in August and September, the Federal Treasury did issue its usual reports on budget spending during the first half of the year and then to 1 August. The reports are very revealing—and, at first sight, surprising—on actual spending and permit some analysis of the Russian government’s commitment of resources to what it has termed a ‘special military operation’.

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NewSpace actors entering the space industry are not only changing the nature of the industry but are also exacerbating existing missile proliferation risks and posing challenges for the effective implementation of export controls. It therefore requires a coordinated response by the main multilateral missile export control instrument: the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). This report identifies developments, trends and possible proliferation scenarios linked to the NewSpace industry that pose possible missile proliferation risks and challenges for MTCR export controls.

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Armed forces in the Indo-Pacific region remain dependent on weapon systems imported from foreign suppliers. This is despite the efforts of many governments in the Indo-Pacific to implement policies that support the development of local arms industrial capabilities with the aim of increasing self-reliance. This report develops three indicators to give a score and regional ranking of self-reliance in arms production to 12 jurisdictions in the Indo-Pacific region. Overall, the report contributes to knowledge and debates on armament trends and military modernization in the Indo-Pacific. 

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The United Nations Report on Military Expenditures (UNMILEX) is a reporting instrument where all member states can voluntarily provide data on their military expenditures to enhance multilateral transparency in military matters. In recent years, fewer than 50 states on average per year have participated. However, most states release public information on their military spending, which could directly support submissions for UNMILEX. To assist in the revival of the instrument, this Good Practice Guide aims to support officials in preparing their country’s annual submission for UNMILEX. This project was funded by UNSCAR.

Read the SIPRI Good Practice Guide

• insight on developments in conventional arms control in 2021;
• regional overviews of armed conflicts and conflict management;
• in-depth data and discussion on military expenditure, international arms transfers and arms production; and
• comprehensive coverage of efforts to counter chemical and biological security threats.

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