New data on international arms transfers, invasion of Iraq 20 years on, Annual Review 2022, nuclear security during Ukraine war and more

This month SIPRI released new data on international arms transfers. The new data revealed that imports of major arms by European states increased by 47 per cent between 2013–17 and 2018–22, while the global level of international arms transfers decreased by 5.1 per cent. Arms imports fell overall in Africa (–40 per cent), the Americas (–21 per cent), Asia and Oceania (–7.5 per cent) and the Middle East (–8.8 per cent)—but imports to East Asia and certain states in other areas of high geopolitical tension rose sharply. The United States’ share of global arms exports increased from 33 to 40 per cent while Russia’s fell from 22 to 16 per cent.

Read more | Download the SIPRI Fact Sheet 

To mark the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, SIPRI has released a collection of new materials looking back over the months leading up to Operation Iraqi Freedom and developments over the two decades since. The package contains: an interactive chronology of security-related developments in Iraq, drawing from the SIPRI Yearbook archive; a SIPRI Topical Backgrounder presenting 20 years of SIPRI data on Iraq; video interviews with central figures in United Nations organizations that operated in Iraq in the 1990s and the months leading up to the invasion; a SIPRI Essay by a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team who investigated renewed claims about an Iraqi nuclear weapons programme in 2002–2003; and a SIPRI Topical Backgrounder that presents a snapshot of the situation and remaining challenges for Iraq, two decades after the invasion.

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SIPRI is pleased to release its Annual Review 2022, which takes a retrospective look at the Institute’s activities, achievements, publications, commentaries, events and news. Throughout 2022, SIPRI continued to play a crucial role in the global dialogue on managing risks and promoting peace at a time when parallel crises of insecurity and environmental deterioration challenge global stability. The situation in Ukraine and the depth and breadth of environmental challenges are powerful reminders of the magnitude of the task at hand.

Read more | Download Annual Review 2022

On 16 March, SIPRI co-hosted an event on the attacks on nuclear installations in Ukraine by the Russian military in 2022 and the threat that they pose to the international nuclear security framework. The event was held both in-person and online and gathered an audience of over 80 participants. It was moderated by Vitaly Fedchenko, SIPRI Senior Researcher, and co-hosted by the Odesa Center for Nonproliferation (ODCNP) and the Maltese Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade.

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This month, SIPRI released interviews in its Conversations video series with two Distinguished Associate Fellows. The first video features Ambassador Rolf Ekéus who was Executive Chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) in Iraq during 1991–97. In this interview, Ambassador Ekéus reflects on the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the legacy of UNSCOM. The second video is an interview with Dr Hans Blix, who was the Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from 2000 to 2003. In this interview, Dr Blix reflects on the experience of the critical months leading up to the invasion and the lessons it offers today.

Watch the SIPRI Conversations Playlist | Watch the interview with Ambassador Ekéus | Watch the interview with Dr Blix

As part of the Environment of Peace initiative, SIPRI interviewed Dr Geoff Dabelko, Professor at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University and Associate Senior Fellow at SIPRI. In this SIPRI Spotlight interview, Dr Dabelko speaks about the needed transition towards sustainability and climate resilience, what the transition entails and the challenges to making that happen.

Watch the video

Over the past two decades Iraq has been affected by several waves of intense conflict and violence. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the USA and United Kingdom toppled the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. It also ushered in years of chaos and civil war, as a variety of armed groups vied for power and territory and targeted coalition forces and the fledgling post-Ba’athist Iraqi Army. Today Iraq is enjoying its most stable period since 2003. Armed violence persists in different forms, but it is sporadic, fragmented and localized. However, the country remains fragile and divided. This Topical Backgrounder aims to provide a snapshot of the situation in Iraq 20 years since the invasion.

Read the SIPRI Topical Backgrounder

The case for invading Iraq in March 2003 was built on three basic premises: that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD); that it was developing more of them; and that it was failing to comply with its disarmament obligations under a series of UN Security Council resolutions. All of these premises were based on scraps of unreliable information. None of them was true. This SIPRI Essay is written by a former member of the IAEA Action Team who investigated renewed claims about an Iraqi nuclear weapons programme in 2002–2003.

Read the SIPRI Essay

On 20 March 2003, a massive multinational coalition force invaded Iraq under Operation Iraqi Freedom. After three weeks of an intensive air and ground campaign, the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, fell, and with it Saddam’s Ba’athist regime. Shortly afterwards, the Coalition Provisional Authority decided to disband the Iraqi Army. No WMDs were ever found. This SIPRI Topical Backgrounder presents data for Iraq drawn from four SIPRI databases’ data covering the period since the invasion, and what it reveals about developments in the country since the invasion.

Read the SIPRI Topical Backgrounder

Private equity firms invest capital raised from private investors. They use these funds to acquire stakes—often controlling ones—in other companies, with the aim of increasing the acquired company’s value and selling it on for a profit. Unlike public companies, private equity firms in the USA are not registered with the governmental financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and are not required to publish annual reports on or submit financial statements for any of the companies in their portfolios. This SIPRI WritePeace Blog explores the increasing trend for private equity deals in the arms industry in the USA—the country with the largest number of companies in the SIPRI Top 100—and the implications for transparency.

Read the SIPRI WritePeace Blog

The following articles by SIPRI experts were recently published:

• ‘Why Iraqis are still searching for a “homeland” 20 years after US invasion’, by Alaa Tartir and Shivan Fazil, published by Middle East Eye on 20 March.

• ‘The United States and stability in the Taiwan Strait’, by Jingdong Yuan, published by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on 13 March.

• ‘Integrating climate security in development practice’ by Katongo Seyuba and Karen Meijer. Published by ConnexUs on 8 March.

• ‘Three lessons on the regulation of autonomous weapons systems to ensure accountability for violations of IHL’ by Vincent Boulanin and Marta Bo. Published by the ICRC’s Humanitarian Law & Policy blog on 2 March.