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	Top 100 arms companies pursue diverse strategies in response to austerity measures by Stockholm International Peace Institute   Sales of arms and military services by the largest arms-producing companies - the SIPRI Top 100 - totalled $410 billion in 2011 according to new data on international arms production released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).   Compared to the companies in the Top 100 for 2010, this result represents a 5 per cent decrease in constant dollar terms. Over the period since 2002, arms sales by the Top 100 have nevertheless increased by 51 per cent in real terms.   Arms-producing and military services companies headquartered in North America and Western Europe continued to dominate the Top 100 list, which does not include China-based companies due to lack of available data.   Sales by the 44 US-based arms producers amounted to 60 per cent of the total arms sales of the Top 100. The 30 companies based in Western Europe made up another 29 per cent of the total.   Several factors contributed to the decrease in arms sales in 2011. Austerity policies and proposed and actual decreases in military expenditure as well as postponements in weapons programme procurement affected overall arms sales in North America and Western Europe.   Conflict—in particular the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and the sanctions on arms transfers to Libya—also played a role in the fall in arms sales.   ‘Arms producing and military services companies have been taking steps to insulate themselves against austerity measures,’ states 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.’   Uncertainties stemming from proposed austerity measures by governments in the Global North have led some companies to pursue military specialization, while others have downsized or diversified into adjacent markets.   A number of companies have also established foreign subsidiaries in order to access new revenue streams in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.   Cybersecurity emerging as a key market   The expansion of arms producing companies into the cybersecurity market—a clear trend in the first tier of the SIPRI Top 100—is due the growing political and budgetary importance of cybersecurity as a national security issue.   Companies are seeking alternative revenue channels from the civilian sector while maintaining ties to military spending in this market.   These companies’ cybersecurity activities are focused on data and network protection software and services; testing and simulation services; training and consulting services; and operational support.   Since 1990, SIPRI has published data on the arms sales and employment of the 100 largest of these arms-producing companies in the SIPRI Yearbook.   http://www.sipri.org/media/pressreleases/2014/Milex_April_2014 Visit the related web page
	Protecting children, safeguarding their development from conflict, violence and disasters by Graça Machel, Yoka Brandt Unicef   More than 100 delegates from over 20 countries met in Helsinki to discuss how to make sure countries around the world can better prevent the fallout of conflicts, war and disasters from reversing the gains in development, economic growth and provision of services to their people in the future global development agenda.   The dialogue considered how the nature of conflicts and violence is changing.   There is now one casualty from a recognized war for nine casualties of organized crime and intra-state conflicts.   Many leaders therefore believe that the new face of conflict requires a new solution and a new response from governments and the international community.   “In countries experiencing conflict there are usually severe problems in gender equality, and frequently rape and other gender-based violence is a particularly abhorrent aspect of conflict,” the Minister of International Development of Finland, Heidi Hautala, said.   “Therefore participants urged today that conflict prevention, violence reduction, peace-building and disaster resilience should be an integral part of the post-2015 development framework. This means that particular attention should be paid to combating all forms of violence against women,” Minister Hautala said.   Conflicts, wars and disasters have a detrimental impact on society, economy and environment. For example, the lengthy conflict in Somalia resulted in the loss of a generation of young people who are missing out on the opportunity to achieve higher education – this phenomenon is referred to in Somalia as a ‘national disaster.’   In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 70 percent of children have no access to school because of the extended conflict.   “Conflict, violence and disasters mutually reinforce one another. It is therefore urgent to develop responses which address them at the same time within a human development framework,” the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Associate Administrator, Rebeca Grynspan, said at the event.   “This can only be achieved if conflict prevention, combat of violence, (especially gender-based violence, together with exclusion, discrimination and inequalities), resilience-building and disaster reduction are truly integrated in the post-2015 development framework.”   Recent research concludes that countries which experienced major violence in the period between 1981 and 2005 have poverty rates 21 percent higher than those which did not experience violence. Violence claims about half a million victims each year.   The latest analysis from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) states that for the first time in history, the world has experienced three consecutive years during which the US$100 billion threshold for economic losses from disasters has been surpassed. On average, the lives of over 200 million people are disrupted by disasters each year.   The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, said: “Risk is growing faster than our capacity to manage it. Economic development must be accompanied by disaster resilience which is essential to poverty reduction.”   Participants recognized that there is no ‘silver bullet’ which reduces violence and conflict. They pointed out that a multi-dimensional, comprehensive approach is needed, spanning the areas of justice, social services, livelihoods and jobs, governance and politics.   The post-2015 development framework must also promote resilience to reduce the impact of shocks, whether man-made or natural.   “Women and children are the hardest hit by conflict, violence and disaster,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Yoka Brandt.   “Of the 10 countries with the highest under-five mortality rates, eight are affected by conflict. Unless we address children’s issues in the post-2015 agenda, they will continue to pay the price of conflict, violence and disaster,” Ms Brandt said.   “Violent conflict will continue to undermine the alleviation of poverty unless world leaders commit themselves explicitly to making progress in building the institutions that are required for democratic governance , sustainable peace and the rule of law,” said Judy Cheng-Hopkins, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support.   “The post-2015 development framework is an opportunity to shape a new, more prosperous and more peaceful and inclusive world. This is the future we want.”   In terms of disasters, participants pointed out that they often erode development gains and negatively impact poverty reduction and human development. At the same time, delegates claimed, poorly managed development can in itself exacerbate disaster risk. In the past 30 years, the world population has increased by 87 percent, but in flood-prone river basins, the increase has been 114 percent and in cyclone-exposed coastlines, the population increase has been a staggering 195 percent.   Graça Machel, a member of the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, said that “post-2015 global development initiatives should emphasize support for strategies that would help countries to overcome domestic insecurity and conflict, transform their economies, strengthen the rule of law and guarantee that all citizens have equal access to justice”…”that is why the High Level Panel members have insisted that the Post-2015 Development Agenda must recognize the central role of peace, security, and freedom from fear.” Visit the related web page
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