The fourth edition of the ATT Monitor report seeks to build on the analysis of previous reports.
Chapter 1 of this report is a special thematic section on the ATT in Asia. CSP 2018 will be hosted in Japan, which helps focus attention on a region broadly categorized by low ATT membership, rising arms imports, and countries expanding or initiating moves to produce and export arms. This chapter profiles the state of conventional arms control in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and outlines challenges and barriers to ATT universalization in the region.
Chapter 2 assesses the current state of ATT Annual Reports. This chapter includes an overall analysis of reporting practices, comparing 2016 ATT Annual Reports with reports for 2015. This comparative analysis identifies changes in reporting practices and determines whether inconsistencies and gaps identified in the analysis of 2015 reports were resolved in 2016 reports.
Chapter 2 also includes country profiles for each State Party that was due to submit an ATT Annual Report for 2016. Each profile provides data on key reporting practice metrics (public reporting, timely reporting, withholding security information), as well as a summary of areas of good practice and areas for improvement in reporting. The profiles also contain a summary of transfers reported by each State Party, focusing on basic comparable information such as number and status of export/import partners, and highlighting the largest transfers reported by that State Party in the 2016 reporting calendar year.
Chapter 2 also looks at the extent to which exports and imports reported by States Parties in 2016 Annual Reports are comparable. For example, if one State Party reports an export of assault rifles to another, does the second State Party also report the import? This analysis identifies the major types of discrepancies in reported figures of exports and imports and assesses the quality and functionality of the reports with a view to assisting States Parties in effective and meaningful reporting.
Chapter 3 includes a summary assessment of Annual Reports submitted for arms exports and imports during 2017 before 31 May 2018.37 It is anticipated that more States Parties will submit their report in the window between the legal deadline of 31 May and the beginning of the CSP 2018. As such, this analysis will be further expanded in next year’s Monitor report.
Chapter 3 also includes a summary assessment of Initial Reports submitted by States Parties as of June 2018. From this assessment comes an analysis of reporting non-compliance, highlighting challenges States Parties face in fulfilling reporting obligations. Article 13.3 of the ATT requires States Parties to provide the ATT Secretariat with relevant updates or changes to their national arms transfer control systems. This chapter finds that States Parties are not updating their initial reports. A lack of updated information could stymie efforts towards comprehensive treaty implementation and undermine the value of transparency in national control systems.
Finally, Chapter 4 presents an overview of diversion and the ATT through the regional lens of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This chapter reviews what the ATT’s provisions relating to diversion, as well as what LAC States Parties do to address diversion—both in terms of Initial Reports and specific policy and programming responses. To illustrate the diverse manifestations of diversion, this chapter applies a broad understanding of how and when it occurs – from the point of production to the point of end use.
