South Sudan’s fragile peace is falling apart. Five years after the country gained independence, it is on the brink of a return to civil war. The international community, which has already invested a great deal in supporting the nascent state, is runnin …
By Aditi Gorur and Rachel Stohl: South Sudan’s fragile peace is falling apart. Five years after the country gained independence, it is on the brink of a return to civil war. The international community, which has already invested a great deal in suppor …
By Shannon Dick and Rachel Stohl: This month marks the fifth anniversary of South Sudan’s independence and the country appears to be on the verge civil war — again. July has been marred by renewed violence and numerous reports of human rights abu …
It’s been three years since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty, an agreement that aims to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons in order to curb the illicit trade of arms and ammunition. The internation …
By Rachel Stohl and Elizabeth Peartree: Today, the State Department released its annual list of countries that are known to use or support the use of child soldiers. What is most notable this year is not who is included on the list, but rather wh …
By Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick: April 4th is the Obama administration’s last International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action and thus provides an appropriate opportunity to reflect on the president’s landmine legacy. Presiden …
In February 2016, the United States took a considerable step towards repositioning Russia as a long-term threat to U.S. and European national security interests, with the White House requesting $3.4 billion—roughly four times the amount requested for 2 …
Global military expenditure and the international arms trade are driven by changing economic circumstances, shifting priorities, emerging security threats, and regional and international instability. Examining the recent trends in the global arms marke …
-snip- Some observers suggest the administration gradually shifted its attention from finding the missing manpads to the war in Syria and the nuclear deal with Iran. “There was a huge flurry about the missiles right after the fall of Qaddafi,” recalls …
Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. The rise and dramatic fall of Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout cast a spotlight on the involvement of international arms brokers in armed conflict and human rights abuses. But Bout and the …
By Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick: Referred to as the “Merchant of Death,” Viktor Bout provided weapons to some of the world’s deadliest conflicts for more than 20 years. Used by governments large and small, rebel groups, and other undesirable act …
In 1997, governments around the world dedicated themselves to eliminating the threat of anti-personnel landmines by adopting the Mine Ban Treaty. Although the United States had initially called for such a ban in a speech to the United Nations General A …
The Obama administration announced its determinations with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 on September 29, 2015 and again gave a pass to governments that routinely recruit and use child soldiers in their national militar …
For countries in conflict, the unfettered transfer of weapons can pose a significant risk to armed forces and civilian populations, as well as to long-term security and stability. Better understanding of the complex global arms trade can help curb thes …
On February 02, 2012, the Managing Across Boundaries program hosted Libya’s Missing Weapons: Understanding Global Efforts to Control Conventional Arms, an event that examined the impact of the collapse of the Gadhafi regime on the uncontrolled prolifer …
On February 02, 2012, the Managing Across Boundaries program hosted Libya’s Missing Weapons: Understanding Global Efforts to Control Conventional Arms, an event that examined the impact of the collapse of the Gadhafi regime on the uncontrolled prolifer …
Last week, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari visited Washington and criticized the Leahy Law and the restrictions it places on certain Nigerian military units’ ability to acquire weapons the government says are necessary to fight Boko Haram. Under th …
The spread of portable anti-aircraft missiles in the Middle East and North Africa could pose a threat to aviation security if the weapons fall into the hands of Islamic extremists, a report said on Wednesday. -snip- The report, presented at a conferenc …
Following a panel discussion on the Arms Trade Treaty, which entered into force in December 2014, hosted by the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs sat down with Rache …
Despite a decade-long international campaign to reduce the threat from man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), terrorists and insurgents continue to acquire and use these highly effective, lightweight missiles. Among the most severely affected regi …
On January 22, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his cabinet resigned under pressure from Houthi rebels — a Shi’a-backed group from northern Yemen — after the group seized much of the capital as well as the presidential palace. The diss …
The global arms trade impacts countries and societies in conflict and at peace. Internal security challenges as well as regional and international instability all drive demand for weapons, sometimes with unanticipated consequences. Today’s complex glob …
The United States remains the largest exporter of weaponry to the world, with Russia hanging onto second place and China grabbing ahold of third, according to the latest annual survey by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), whi …
Late last year, 90-some countries that signed a brand-new treatyregulating how countries should transfer weapons across borders met in Berlin, where dozens of diplomats started hashing out the details of how the new agreement will work. …
It has been almost one year since Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, launched the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign. This two year effort “seeks to galvanize support to end and prev …
ISIS, al Qaeda, weapons of mass destruction — it’s easy to understand why these threats to global stability consistently make the headlines. But it doesn’t take a nuclear device to devastate countries. While the international community has mobilized t …
ISIS, al Qaeda, weapons of mass destruction — it’s easy to understand why these threats to global stability consistently make the headlines. But it doesn’t take a nuclear device to devastate countries. While the international community has mobilized t …
The signatory countries of the Arms Trade Treaty [ATT] will huddle together in Berlin to prepare for the ATT’s entry into force on December 24, 2014. Of the global arms trade, the top five importing countries are in the South and West Asian regio …
When the Stimson Center was founded twenty-five years ago, the global security environment was undergoing a major shift, generating new worries created by the end of the bi-polar world. As the Soviet Union dissolved and the proxy wars of the Cold War e …
Twenty years ago, then-President Bill Clinton gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly calling on the world to eliminate anti-personnel landmines. When the world heeded his call in 1997 with the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty, the United S …