After 1988, the 3rd largest arms industry in the Warsaw Pact experienced the loss of 100,000 jobs in seven years. The industry was protected by a new privatisation program after NATO membership in 1999, but the recent economic slowdown is expected to cause severe damage.

In recent years the government has been concerned to improve the transparency with which arms deals are made, for example expressing concern over sales to Yemen, where weapons can be subsequently exported to countries under an EU embargo (for example Sudan). Working with IANSA members the government has hosted regional conferences addressing the issue of uncontrolled spread of SALW.

As the Polish government replaces military equipment that no longer meets NATO requirements, it passes the surplus on to the Military Property Agency (AMW). Unfortunately, the AMW has expressed a preference for selling these weapons to developing countries rather than destroying them.

Organisations

Amnesty International Poland
UNDP Poland

Other links

SAFER-Net factsheet on gun laws and firearm ownership
Report on the arms industry (2002) from saferworld (PDF)