Objective Information on Military Matters, Including Transparency of Military Expenditures

A/RES/68/23No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 89bObjective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

17 versions · 1994–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/12

2025A/RES/80/12Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expendituresLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/33Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expendituresCompare with previous version
2019A/RES/74/24Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expendituresCompare with previous version
2017A/RES/72/20Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expendituresCompare with previous version
2015A/RES/70/21Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expendituresCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Information Exchange Military Budgets Military Expenditures Regional Disarmament Report Preparation Standardization Transparency in Armaments

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

2 reports of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2014–2015.

2015A/70/139Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General
2014A/69/135Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

21 operative paragraphs

Calls upon Member States, with a view to achieving the broadest possible participation, to provide the Secretary-General, by 30 April annually, with a report on their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for which data are available, using, preferably and to the extent possible, one of the online reporting forms, including a nil report if appropriate, or, as appropriate, any other format developed in the context of similar reporting on military expenditures to other international or regional organizations;

Recommends the guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters to all Member States for implementation, fully taking into account specific political, military and other conditions prevailing in a region, on the basis of initiatives and with the agreement of the States of the region concerned;

Invites Member States in a position to do so to supplement their reports, on a voluntary basis, with explanatory remarks regarding submitted data to explain or clarify the figures provided in the reporting forms, such as the total military expenditures as a share of gross domestic product, major changes from previous reports and any additional information reflecting their defence policy, military strategies and doctrines;

Invites Member States to provide, preferably with their annual report, their national points of contact;

Encourages relevant international bodies and regional organizations to promote transparency of military expenditures and to enhance complementarities among reporting systems, taking into account the particular characteristics of each region, and to consider the possibility of an exchange of information with the United Nations;

Takes note of the annual reports of the Secretary-General;

Requests the Secretary-General, within available resources:

To continue the practice of sending an annual note verbale to Member States requesting the submission of their report on military expenditures;

To circulate annually a note verbale to Member States detailing which reports on military expenditures were submitted and are available online;

To establish a group of governmental experts, on the basis of equitable geographical representation, to review the operation and further development of the United Nations Report on Military Expenditures, including the establishment of a process for periodic reviews in order to ensure the continued relevance and operation of the Report, commencing in 2016, taking into account the views expressed by Member States on the subject and the reports of the Secretary-General on objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures, and to transmit the report of the group of experts to the General Assembly for consideration at its seventy-second session;

To continue consultations with relevant international bodies, with a view to ascertaining requirements for adjusting the present instrument in order to encourage wider participation, and to make recommendations, based on the outcome of those consultations and taking into account the views of Member States, on necessary changes to the content and structure of the standardized reporting system;

To encourage relevant international bodies and organizations to promote transparency of military expenditures and to consult with those bodies and organizations with emphasis on examining possibilities for enhancing complementarities among international and regional reporting systems and for exchanging related information between those bodies and the United Nations;

To continue to foster further cooperation with relevant regional organizations with a view to raising awareness of the Report on Military Expenditures and its role as a confidence-building measure;

To encourage the United Nations regional centres for peace and disarmament in Africa, in Asia and the Pacific, and in Latin America and the Caribbean to assist Member States in their regions in enhancing their knowledge of the standardized reporting system;

To promote international and regional or subregional symposiums and training seminars and to support the development of an online training course by the Office for Disarmament Affairs of the Secretariat, with the financial and technical support of interested States, with a view to explaining the purpose of the standardized reporting system, facilitating the electronic filing of reports and providing relevant technical instructions;

To report on experiences gained during such symposiums and training seminars;

To provide, upon request, technical assistance to Member States lacking the capacity to report data and to encourage Member States to voluntarily provide bilateral assistance to other Member States;

Encourages Member States:

To inform the Secretary-General about possible problems with the standardized reporting system and their reasons for not submitting the requested data;

To continue to provide the Secretary-General with their views and suggestions on ways and means to improve the future functioning of and broaden participation in the standardized reporting system, including necessary changes to its content and structure, as well as recommendations to facilitate its further development;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventieth session, under the item entitled “Reduction of military budgets”, the sub-item entitled “Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures”.

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Who created this mandate?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What does this mandate say?

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