On this website bicc publishes different data sets concerning the military sector, overall security environment, human rights situation and governance in all together 173 countries. The range of information is supposed to support, improve and facilitate an evaluation of German arms exports and is therefore based on the criteria spelled out in the European Union’s 2008 Common Position on arms exports.

On the one hand, the website includes detailed country reports in PDF format on selected recipient states of German arms exports outside of NATO. The reports are only available in German language.

On the other hand, a large database examines the correspondence of 173 countries to 8 evaluation criteria, which are based upon the Common Position. As of 2007, country classifications can also be viewed as an interactive map. In order to classify each country, bicc pools a number of different data sets, for example from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the World Bank, the United Nations, or Freedom House.

Coordination: Markus Bayer

Background

Unfortunately, the discussion in Germany on arms exports often suffers from a lack of information on the situation of the recipient states. This often starts with general data which are easily accessible, such as the economic situation, then becomes more difficult with political topics such as human rights and finds its peak in the data on the military sector which can only be found in technical journals, etc. By making solid information more accessible, the evaluation of German arms exports is thus to be improved and facilitated.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.