(MintPress) – The United States dominated sales of arms and military services in 2011 with 44 U.S.-based producers accounting for 60 percent of total arms sales, according to a new report on international arms production released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
With $36.3 billion in arms sales, U.S.-based aerospace, defense and advanced technology company Lockheed Martin maintained its slot as the No. 1 arms producer in 2011. U.S. aircraft, electronics and missile company Boeing rose to a close second in 2011 with $31.8 billion in arms sales.
Thirty western European companies accounted for another 29 percent of total sales. China-based companies were excluded from the list due to a lack of available information.
Comparing data among the Top 100 arms-producing companies worldwide, SIPRI recorded $410 billion in sales in 2011, a 5 percent decrease from 2010 in constant dollar terms. Overall, arms sales have increased 51 percent in real terms since 2002.
SIPRI will release more comprehensive international arms transfers data with the publication of the SIPRI Yearbook 2013 this March — the same month the United Nations will resume talks on an internationally-binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
SIPRI attributes the 2011 decrease in arms sales to several factors including austerity policies across Europe and drawdowns of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Arms producing and military services companies have been taking steps to insulate themselves against austerity measures,” said SIPRI arms industry expert Dr Susan Jackson. “Companies are implementing strategies that accommodate the changes in threat perception since September 2001 while trying to maintain their bottom lines. We see this in the types of acquisitions being made and in the sectors companies are targeting.”
Many SIPRI Top 100 companies have started to pursue military specialization in the cybersecurity market due to the growing political and budgetary importance of cybersecurity to national security in order to beat the downward economic slump.
Other companies have established foreign subsidiaries in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia to access new avenues of revenue, leaving international bodies once again grappling with the question of how to regulate the multi-billion dollar arms trade industry.
Challenges in regulating arms sales
The U.N. will be faced with the issue of unregulated global arms flows when negotiations resume in March over the passage of a comprehensive Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
According to Amnesty International, the virtually unregulated flow of small arms globally results in an estimated 1,500 deaths every day. “Weak export controls in countries around the world, including common-sense background checks on international arms sales, allow weapons to flow unabated worldwide, fueling conflict, atrocities and instability and leading to the deaths of millions of civilians,” said Amnesty International’s Suzanne Trimel last month in a press release.
“The Arms Trade Treaty could change this by requiring all states to adopt basic regulations for the flow of small arms and conventional weapons across international borders, establishing common standards for arms transfers,” added Trimel.
Despite over a month of negotiations, the U.N. failed to come to a sustainable agreement on the ATT last July. Top weapons exporters China and Russia were among those hesitant to sign the treaty, stating more time was needed for review.
While President Barack Obama claimed to support an arms treaty in 2009, thereby reversing former U.S. policy, the Democratic president was accused of stalling the ATT to avoid criticism from Republicans and pro-gun-rights activists ahead of the election last fall.
The U.S. mission to the U.N. denied that the election had any connection to the treaty negotiations. Additionally, the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs claims that any arms treaty would not interfere with the domestic right to bear arms since the mandate of the treaty specifically prohibits it from interfering with domestic constitutional protections to possess weapons.
Despite these claims, the U.S. National Rifle Association (NRA) remains adamantly opposed to an international arms treaty. Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA, spoke directly to the United Nations last July, saying “On behalf of those 100 million American gun owners, I am here to announce NRA’s strong opposition to anti-freedom policies that disregard American citizens’ right to self-defense.”
LaPierre continued his speech in defense of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, adding “For any foreign entity to attempt to encroach on that great freedom is offensive to every American who has ever breathed out free air, or who has ever used a firearm to fend off an evil attacker — whether a criminal breaking into their home, or in defense of their family against a tyrant halfway around the world.”
Amnesty International is urging citizens to send letters directly to LaPierre and tell the NRA to stop interfering in U.S. foreign policy. Trimel accused the National Rifle Association of spreading lies and false argument that the ATT would threaten U.S. Second Amendment rights.
“NRA officials are beholden to arms manufacturers who oppose any attempt to restrict weapons sales on the global stage,” said Michelle Ringuette, chief of campaigns and programs at Amnesty International USA, in a press statement on Tuesday. “Their false claims that American gun rights will be impacted by this treaty have no factual basis.”
Creating a strong arms trade treaty
If passed this coming March, the ATT would establish common standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons across countries. However, rights groups are concerned with the current ATT draft, claiming there are several loopholes that must be resolved in the lead up to March 2013, including provisions on ammunition sales.
“With nearly 12 billion bullets manufactured every year — approximately two for every man, woman and child on the planet, it is crucial that the international community establishes common standards for how countries export, import, and transfer these deadly items,” wrote Amnesty International.
According to Amnesty’s issue brief on the subject, “An Arms Trade Treaty that does not include ammunition would do little to address many of the abuses that AI has documented in places such as the DRC, a war-torn country inundated with weapons and in which armed groups require more bullets, not necessarily more guns, to carry out serious abuses of human rights.”
A 2012 report accused top international arms suppliers, including Belarus, China, and Russia, or distributing ammunition used by government security agencies and armed forces against civilians in Darfur even after the establishment of the U.N. arms embargo in 2004.
In spite of this evidence, the United States says it will not support any arms treaty that requires for “reporting on or marking and tracing of ammunition or explosives.”
Additionally, Amnesty International believes, “The current draft ATT text proposes weak rules to help prevent arms transfers to states or groups using child soldiers.”
The current draft merely requires states to “consider taking feasible measures” to prevent violence against children. “Amnesty International is pressing for these loopholes to be closed so that the rule in the ATT would require States’ Parties to prevent arms transfers that pose a danger of contributing to violence against children, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers,” said Trimel, to mark the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers earlier this month.
While 2011 saw a decrease in arms exports, trends in arms sales today are over half that of a decade ago, allowing $70 billion dollars worth of weapons to continue to switch hands globally with almost no regulations.
Rights groups are urging the Obama administration to join two-thirds of the world’s countries in supporting the Arms Trade Treaty in 2013. The 10 day negotiating session will begin March 18 in New York.