In a blog for the Anti-Corruption Views section of Reuters' Trust Law, our programme highlights the findings of its new report 'The Transparency of Defence Budgets' and the key role defence budgets play in governments' and armed forces' accountability.

Defence budgets are the primary tool that legislators, members of the public and civil society can use to hold governments and armed forces to account. Yet the ability to use that tool is rare, since most countries disclose too little defence and security spending information to their public, and even to their legislatures.

This is one of the findings of Transparency International’s Defence and Security Programme’s latest report, which ranks 93 countries according to their defence budget transparency and accountability. The scale of the challenge is clear: nearly 65% of countries studied scored moderate or below.

It is through the defence budget that citizens can understand how their taxes are being spent. They have the right to know where their money goes, and to hold their governments accountable for their decisions.

The banding of countries into high, moderate to high, moderate, moderate to low and low defence budget transparency resulted from data provided by the Open Budget Initiative Questionnaires, and the ranking was supplemented by further research. Countries were given different grades depending on: whether or not they published their budget proposal, enacted budget and audit reports; the percentage of secret items in their defence expenditure; the existence of adequate staff to audit the security sector; and the provision of detailed budget information to their respective parliaments.

According to these standards, only 13 countries score as having high transparency, 20 as moderate to high, 14 as moderate, 21 as moderate to low, and 25 as low.

Along with the ranking, the report puts forward a set of questions which can enhance understanding of defence budgets. The questions address key defence budget transparency indicators such as how defence budgets are planned, how they are executed, what oversight and monitoring mechanisms exist, and what level of access to budget information is granted to citizens. In this way, the questionnaire aims to help identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in defence budget management systems.

Does this really matter? The answer is yes, and more than you might expect. A transparent and accountable defence sector is not only in the best interest of the public, but also the best interest of governments, armed forces, and the international community.
 

Read the full blog 'Why care about defence budget transparency?'

Download 'The Transparency of Defence Budgets.'

Read press release 'Chile's defence budget transparency is an example for South America.'

Read press release 'UK scores high for defence budget transparency, but room for reform remains.'

Read other blogs we've wrote.

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