Munitions… At the heart of conflicts and an engine for conflicts spreading, billions of munitions are manufactured around the world, leaving millions of victims in their wake, be they military or civilian.

The ephemeral nature of munitions (the fact they only explode once) does not make them any less fatal but astonishingly, they remain on the fringes of changes in international legislation despite the sheer volume of legislation on small arms and light weapons (SALW), in part due to the influence of civil society.

Kept out of multilateral arms control processes? Not included in the documents perhaps, but in the shadow of international institutions, many independent experts are reflecting on the development of effective regulation of the civilian and military markets, focussing on munitions.

This report looks at the development over time and the role of munitions in major international agreements and legislation. Above all, it sheds light on proposals formulated by researchers today to engage the contribution of the munitions industry by means of marking and registration procedures, effective use of which could improve the traceability of munitions and hugely reduce proliferation and illegal munitions sales.

 

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