United Nations Transparency in Armaments (UNTIA)

Overview

Potential Facility Impacts

Current Activities

Overview

Purpose and Background

The United Nations Transparency in Armaments (UNTIA or TIA) resolution (46/36 L) is politically-binding and was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on December 9, 1991. The purpose of UNTIA is to promote global transparency regarding the exchange and possession of arms, and to facilitate timely intervention in the event of a nascent arms build-up. These goals are accomplished by means of annual, voluntary data exchanges, which serve as confidence and security building measures (CSBMs). Information reported for activities conducted during a particular calendar year are due by April 30 of the following year.

Annex A of the UNTIA resolution established the U.N. Register of Conventional Arms (UNCAR) as a public repository for the data exchanged under the UNTIA. The Register is maintained by the UN Secretary-General and is stored at the UN headquarters in New York.

The UNTIA does not prohibit or limit a state’s arms transfers, nor does it require states to report their weapons sales. It encourages self-restraint in participating states by increasing transparency. The information recorded in the Register is available to the public. All states are encouraged to report data to the Register annually whether or not they are members of the United Nations.

The Register documents annual imports, exports, and holdings of the following seven categories of conventional weapons:

1. battle tanks;
2. armored combat vehicles;
3. large caliber artillery systems;
4. attack helicopters;
5. combat aircraft;
6. warships; and
7. missiles and missile launchers, including MANPADs.

The first data exchange occurred in April 1993. Since that time, the U.N. Secretary-General has issued an annual report on the UNCAR. The UNCAR report includes the detailed data submitted by each reporting state pertaining to its arms transfers and stockpiles. Every three years, beginning in 1994, the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) convenes to review the UNCAR. The GGE also discusses topics relating to increasing participation, adding or adjusting specified weapons categories, and the possibility of expanding the Register’s scope.

In 2003, the GGE released a review of the Register. To better reflect the weapon systems used in conflict zones, the GGE recommended lowering the caliber threshold from 100mm to 75mm for large caliber artillery systems. The GGE also recommended including Man Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADs) in the missile and missile-launchers category.

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Potential Facility Impacts

Key Verification Measures

UNTIA has no measures for verifying the accuracy of the data reported by participating states or the resulting data contained in the Register. However, since states report the numbers of weapons they transfer each year and name the countries involved in these transactions, it is possible to cross-check entries between countries. A discrepancy could signal a concern to the international community.

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Current Activities

Recent Developments

The U.N. Secretary-General issued the 16th consolidated annual report on the Register of Conventional Arms on July 14, 2008. Sixty-seven countries submitted information on their international transfers of major conventional arms covered by the Register for CY 2007. The United States provided information on its arms imports and exports, as well as background information on military holdings and procurement through national production.