Presentation of the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard at the ATT Working Group on Transparency and Reporting
On Friday 28 February 2025, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Monitor team presented the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard during the meeting of the ATT Working Group on Transparency and Reporting (WGTR). The Working Group emphasizes the importance of transparency and reporting within the ATT and it is chaired by Ms. Andrea Quezada from Chile. The ATT Secretariat, represented during the presentation by Ms. Carina Solmirano, Head of the ATT Secretariat, invited the ATT Monitor team to present its Arms Transfers Dashboard. Dr. Andrea Edoardo Varisco, ATT Monitor Project Lead, and Ms. Sol Zoe Nottage, ATT Monitor Research Associate, introduced the Dashboard as a civil society-based global resource developed to enhance transparency and accountability in arms transfers.
Dr. Varisco opened the presentation by emphasizing the role of the ATT Monitor in promoting responsible arms transfers and supporting the objectives of the Treaty. He highlighted that the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard was developed based on nearly a decade of data collection and analysis of transfers reported publicly by States Parties to the ATT in their annual reports. He explained that the tool provides a graphical representation of the distribution, dimensions, and dynamics of the arms trade, helping states, researchers, and civil society analyze trends and reporting practices more effectively.
Ms. Nottage then provided a detailed walkthrough of the different Dashboard’s features. She explained that the tool compiles data from 453 annual reports and over 25,000 rows of information on arms imports and exports. The Dashboard allows users to filter data by country, weapon type, and reporting period, providing an interactive and accessible way to track arms transfers
Key sections of the dashboard include:
- A global overview of reported arms transfers, with a map that displays data by country.
- Breakdowns of different weapon categories, allowing comparisons across regions.
- Country profiles, offering in-depth insights into each State Party’s reporting history.
- Key reporting practices, showcasing good practices and areas for improvement.
- A section on annual reporting trends, including the number of reports submitted by year, nil reports, and reports that indicated that States Parties had withheld information.
Dr. Varisco concluded by discussing the methodological limitations of the Dashboard, its importance to enhance transparency in the context of the ATT and the work of the WGTR, as well as its possible use to improve understanding of issues that are critical for Treaty’s implementation. He underlined how the Dashboard only includes publicly reported data from ATT States Parties and stressed the importance of ATT States Parties’ commitment to public reporting. Comprehensive and timely public reports not only help improve the data of the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard, but they strengthen transparency and the global effort to regulate the arms trade effectively.
The ATT Monitor team remains committed to expanding and improving the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard in the future, ensuring that it continues to support States and other stakeholders in the ATT process. The ATT Monitor encourages States Parties to explore the tool, provide feedback, and contribute to transparency efforts in the arms trade.
Please explore the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard: attmonitor.org/en/att-arms-dashboard
Special thanks were given to the Netherlands, which kindly supported the creation of the ATT Monitor Arms Transfers Dashboard, and to Canada and the Netherlands for their continued support to the work of the ATT Monitor.
