Objective Information on Military Matters, Including Transparency of Military Expenditures

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 87b Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures, published in 2012.

What other versions does this mandate have?

17 versions · 1994–2025

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

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/12	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures	1,364	98%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/33	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures	1,343	99%Compare
2019	A/RES/74/24	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures	1,338	85%Compare
2017	A/RES/72/20	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures	1,515	84%Compare
2015	A/RES/70/21	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures	1,416	87%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

23 reports · 2005–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/203	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/80/12
2025	A/80/225	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/33
2024	A/79/218	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/33
2023	A/78/158	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/33
2022	A/77/159	Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/74/24

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Guidelines Information Exchange Military Budgets Military Expenditures Report Preparation Standardization Transparency in Armaments

What’s in this document?

24 operative paragraphs

Endorses the report of the Group of Governmental Experts on the Operation and Further Development of the United Nations Standardized Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures,Error: Reference source not found the recommendations contained therein and the new title of the instrument, namely, the United Nations Report on Military Expenditures;

Calls upon Member States, with a view to achieving the broadest possible participation, to provide the Secretary-General, by 30 April annually, with reports on their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for which data are available, using preferably and to the extent possible, one of the reporting forms, including a “nil” report if appropriate, on the basis of recommendations contained in paragraphs 68 to 71 of the report of the Group of Governmental Experts and annex II thereto, or as appropriate, any other format developed in the context of similar reporting on military expenditures to other international or regional organizations;

Recommends that, for the purpose of reporting by Member States of their national military expenditures in the framework of the Report on Military Expenditures, “military expenditures” be commonly understood to refer to all financial resources that a State spends on the uses and functions of its military forces and information on military expenditures represents an actual outlay in current prices and domestic currency;

Also 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, on the basis of annex II and paragraph 72 (e) of the report of the Group of Governmental Experts;

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;⁴

⁴A/58/202 and Add.1–3, A/59/192 and Add.1, A/60/159 and Add.1–3, A/61/133 and Add.1–3, A/62/158 and Add.1–3, A/63/97 and Add.1 and 2, A/64/113 and Add.1 and 2, A/65/118 and Corr.1 and Add.1 and 2 and A/66/117 and Add.1.

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 electronically on the website for military expenditures;⁵

⁵www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/Milex/.

To continue consultations with relevant international bodies, with a view to ascertaining requirements for adjusting the present instrument, with a view to encouraging 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/subregional symposiums and training seminars to explain the purpose of the standardized reporting system and to give 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;

To encourage the Office for Disarmament Affairs of the Secretariat, with the financial and technical support of interested States, as appropriate, to continue to improve the existing database on military expenditures with a view to making it more user-friendly and up-to-date technologically and to increasing its functionality;

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,

Recommends the establishment of a process for periodic reviews, in order to ensure the continued relevance and operation of the Report on Military Expenditures and that another review of the continuing relevance and operation of the Report be conducted in five years;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-eighth session the item entitled “Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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