ISLAMABAD, July 9: Pakistan, along with the US, Canada, Britain, Germany, Australia and France, was among the top importers of small arms in 2008, with annual imports of at least $100 million, according to a survey.

The report on the 2011 small arms survey by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies said Pakistan did not submit data to the UN Register of Conventional Arms for its 2009 activities. The figure of $100 million was evaluated on the basis of its most recent submission covering activities in 2008.

The annual survey also presents the small arms trade transparency barometer, an estimate of the annual authorised trade in light weapons, and a review of developments relating to small arms control at the United Nations.

This year’s transparency barometer identifies Switzerland, the UK and Germany as the three most transparent countries. The least transparent countries were Iran and North Korea, both scoring zero for five successive years.

The annual trade in light weapons is estimated at $1.1 billion, and based on this and previous findings the combined global authorised trade in small arms, light weapons and their ammunition is worth nearly $7.1 billion per year.

In 2008, the top exporters of small arms and light weapons (those with annual exports of at least $100 million), according to available customs data, were the US, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Israel, Austria, South Korea, Belgium, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, Norway and Canada.

Non-guided light weapons include all light weapons, except portable missiles and their launchers and anti-material rifles and heavy machine guns.

The survey, released on Wednesday night, included mortar systems up to and including a calibre of 120mm, hand-held, under-barrel and automatic grenade launchers, recoilless guns and portable rocket launchers in non-guided light weapons.

The survey points out that well-funded militaries were able to equip their mortars, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, and recoilless guns with advanced ammunition such as rocket-assisted mortar bombs or proximity-fused grenades, while armed forces with low budgets use similar weapons with much more basic and inexpensive ammunition.

According to the survey, the light weapons trade remains far from transparent despite the development of international mechanisms for reporting on light weapons. It says that despite recent increases in the number of countries reporting transfers of small arms and light weapons to the UN register, the overall quality and amount of information on light weapon transfers remain low.

Based on a review of 70 countries, the survey notes that the private security industry is growing at a faster pace, employing between 19.5 and 25.5 million people worldwide. The number of private security personnel has grown to exceed the number of police officers at the global level.

In some countries, the figure represents a doubling or even a tripling of the number of private security workers over the past 10 to 20 years.

Governments outsourcing many of security functions appear to be driving the boom, among other factors.

Despite the rapid growth of the sector, private security personnel hold far fewer firearms than state security forces. Data reveals that they hold no more than four million, compared to some 26 million held by law-enforcement and 200 million held by armed forces.

Private security companies hold between 1.7 and 3.7 million firearms worldwide, an estimate based on extrapolations from reported inventories.

If undeclared and illegally weapons were to be included, global private security companies’ stockpile would undoubtedly be higher.

In Pakistan, the ministry of interior is responsible for registering private security companies. Unofficial statistics show that about 400 companies employ roughly 30,000 security personnel countrywide.