The recently published Occasional Paper, “Transparency Counts: Assessing State Reporting on Small Arms Transfers, 2001–08” by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey assesses various countries’ transparency in their reporting of small arms and light weapons (SALW) transfers through a measure they call the Transparency Barometer. The measurement is made by reviewing states’ reporting to the UN 
SSR Blog
Monthly Archive
June | 2010
Small Arms Survey paper highlights need for transparency in arms transfers
By: Pedro Lopez | Monday, June 28th, 2010OSCE report outlines failings of Kosovo’s war crimes trials
By: Jesse Hembruff | Friday, June 25th, 2010The conflicts in the former Yugoslavia were perhaps the first real test case of post-Cold War humanitarian intervention and state-building. One of the more notable efforts has been the attempted international prosecution of war crimes committed during the conflict. However a new report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Kosovo’s War
Security Sector Reform Monitor: Timor-Leste now available in Tetum
By: Geoff Burt | Thursday, June 24th, 2010The Security Sector Reform Monitor: Timor-Leste is now available for download in Tetum. The Monitor is a quarterly publication that tracks developments and trends in the ongoing security sector reform (SSR) processes of five countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Timor-Leste, Haiti and Southern Sudan. The inaugural issue of the Security Sector Reform Monitor, Timor-Leste, covers sector-wide developments
Security Sector Reform Assessment Framework: A Useful Tool for SSR Analysis
By: Jessica Teeple | Monday, June 21st, 2010Developed by the Swedish National Contact Group on Security Sector Reform, the Security Sector Reform Assessment Framework is a new tool to assist in the crafting security sector reform (SSR) project assessments. The main objective of the framework is to ensure that SSR assessments are “carried out in a comprehensive manner in order to avoid
LSE Crisis States Research Group Report: Pakistan’s ISI and the Afghan Insurgency
By: Jesse Hembruff | Friday, June 18th, 2010There is little doubt in the minds of most analysts that a connection exists between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the insurgency in Afghanistan. However, there is a great deal of confusion as to how deep the connection between these two organizations goes. Speculation has ranged from undercover agents gathering intelligence, to former agents providing
Small Arms Survey Releases 2010 Yearbook on “Gangs, Groups and Guns”
By: Geoff Burt | Thursday, June 17th, 2010The Geneva-based Small Arms Survey’s 2010 Yearbook focuses on a variety of issues relating to gangs and armed groups. One of the report’s findings with direct relevance to SSR is what the author calls “the danger of dungeons” (also the title of the report’s sixth chapter). The chapter’s principal author, Benjamin Lessing, uses case studies
Mexican government’s alleged complicity with Sinaloa cartel shows that money fuels drug war corruption
By: Kristin Bricker | Tuesday, June 15th, 2010Last month, National Public Radio (NPR) published new evidence that supports the prevailing theory in Mexico: that the Felipe Calderón administration favors the Sinaloa drug trafficking organization (DTO) in the war on drugs. According to NPR, the powerful Sinaloa DTO is weathering Mexico’s war on drugs far better than its competitors. The NPR report highlights
Military assault on police in Ghana underlines need for continued security sector reform
By: Geoff Burt | Tuesday, June 15th, 2010A spate of attacks by soldiers targeting police officers has underscored the need for security sector reform to establish clear oversight mechanisms and delineate security roles for the police and armed forces in Ghana. Critics have said that the official response to the incident—in-house investigation by the military and a joint police-military meeting or “durbar”—is
Voting is the easy part: towards the referendum in Southern Sudan (Part 1)
By: Aly Verjee | Friday, June 11th, 2010In little over a year’s time, sub-Saharan Africa’s maps may require some edits. As part of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 22 year civil war, itself following an earlier civil war from 1955 – 1972, the region of Southern Sudan is due to hold a referendum on independence early in 2011. Southern Sudan
From prevention to enforcement to…? Report outlines how South Africa’s policing approach has come full circle
By: Jesse Hembruff | Thursday, June 10th, 2010Despite being heralded as one of the developing world’s rising stars, it is no secret that South Africa has struggled with crime since the fall of the apartheid regime. As of yet, attempts to resolve the crime problem have been largely ineffective, and a growing gap between communities and the police has emerged. A new
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