The life-cycle management of ammunition—or LCMA—is a set of interconnected processes and activities designed to keep the ammunition stockpiles of national authorities safe and secure while meeting their strategic and operational needs. As work continues to mainstream gender into security sector institutions and practices, ammunition management efforts in this field lag behind. What are the gender dimensions of ammunition management, both in terms of meaningful participation and decision-making a...
Oct 26, 2020•35 min
In this episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast, we focus on North Korea’s illicit maritime activities in violation of UN sanctions. We discuss what these activities are; how they relate to the UN sanctions regime on North Korea in general as well as the arms embargo in particular; how North Korea tries to circumvent these restrictions; and the tools available to monitor and address the situation. Giving their expert insight on these topics are Cristina Rotaru, researcher for the Verification R...
Feb 06, 2020•39 min
This episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series focuses on illicit arms trafficking from North Korea, including sources of arms, routes and modes of transport, concealment methods, and ways to curb such trafficking. Our discussants are Bruce Bechtol, North Korea expert as well as professor of Political Science, Angelo State University; and Matt Schroeder, senior researcher, Small Arms Survey, and author of the Survey’s upcoming Briefing Paper on the mechanics of North Korean arms traffickin...
Dec 17, 2019•36 min
This episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series focuses on gender in small arms control, as part of the Gender Lens for Arms Control Support and Sustainability (GLASS) project, funded by the Government of Canada. The Small Arms Survey will publish a Handbook on gender and arms control later in 2019, the authors and editor of which are discussants in this episode: • Vanessa Corlazzoli, independent evaluation consultant • Emile LeBrun, Small Arms Survey consultant • Henri Myrttinen, independe...
Aug 29, 2019•28 min
This episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series focuses on unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS). Our speakers, Jovana Carapic, Remo Gassmann, and Benjamin King, discuss the problem at hand, the causes behind these explosions, as well as their consequences. The episode forms part of our Gender Lens for Arms Control Support and Sustainability (GLASS) project, funded by the Government of Canada.
Jun 16, 2019•24 min
This episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series focuses on Libyan female fighters and the role of women during the Libyan conflict and post-conflict peacebuilding, as part of the Survey’s Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project.
Dec 09, 2018•25 min
In this episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series, Small Arms Survey consultant Hana Salama—author of our February 2018 Briefing Paper Counting Casualties: Operationalizing SDG 16.1.2 in Libya—speaks about the challenges involved in measuring casualties in conflict settings. The Briefing Paper and the podcast both form part of our Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project, which focuses on supporting those engaged in building a more secure environment in North Africa and the Sahel...
Jun 20, 2018•11 min
In this episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series, senior researcher and managing editor Glenn McDonald—author of our October 2017 Briefing Paper Arms Control 2.0—Operationalizing SDG Target 16.4—discusses how the implementation of international arms control instruments supports the aim of reducing illicit arms flows in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 16.4.
Apr 19, 2018•10 min
This episode (in French) features excerpts from interviews collected for the exhibition 'Line of Sight', hosted by the Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts (MUDAC) in Lausanne, Switzerland from 14 March to 26 August 2018. These range from the museum's artistic approach to the exhibit, to the perspectives on firearms in Switzerland, as well as a global point of view on the international arms trade.
Mar 04, 2018•9 min
In this episode of the Small Arms Survey podcast series, our Director Eric Berman discusses our Making Peace Operations More Effective (MPOME) project and our October 2017 report Making a Tough Job more Difficult: Loss of Arms and Ammunition in Peace Operations.
Jan 30, 2018•14 min
The third installment of the Small Arms Survey podcast series on illicit arms flows discusses Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG16), target 16.4, and its associated indicator, 16.4.2. Experts featured in this episode clarify the international framework for action in addressing the problem of illicit arms flows. In their interviews, they focus on the evolution in the formulation of indicator 16.4.2, meant to measure progress made in achieving target 16.4, namely the significant reduction of ill...
Jul 23, 2017•17 min
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that form Agenda 2030 provide a universal policy framework to which states have committed, and within which they operate towards achieving inclusive development. SDG16 sets out to achieve peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, with its fourth target focusing specifically on significantly reducing illicit arms flows to achieve this goal. The second instalment of the Small Arms Survey podcast series dedicated to measuring illicit arms flows discusses g...
May 07, 2017•18 min
Measuring illicit arms flows is one of the challenges faced by states in their efforts to monitor progress in implementing Sustainable Development Goal 16, target 16.4. Fulfilling its mission as the principal international source of impartial and public information on all aspects of small arms and armed violence, the Small Arms Survey brings in a series of podcasts the voices of researchers with relevant experience concerning the issue at hand. The first installment of the series features Holger...
Mar 30, 2017•13 min
In the second of this two-part interview, lead author of Monitoring UN Arms Embargoes, Emile LeBrun discusses what makes an effective expert, the importance of cooperation between expert panels and UN peacekeeping operations, the kinds of political interference that experts face in fulfilling their duties, and some of the tools and methods experts have evolved to more effectively implement their mandates.
Nov 09, 2016•8 min
A new report from the Small Arms Survey assesses the operational challenges facing UN panels of experts, and in particular the arms experts that sit on those panels, in their work to monitor UN arms embargoes. The report, based on interviews with sitting and former experts from panels covering embargoes in Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan, also describes methods and tools that panels are evolving to more effectively implement their mandate. In the first of this two-part int...
Nov 09, 2016•8 min
More than four years after the start of the Syrian uprising, over a thousand armed groups are involved in fighting that has consumed the country. The latest podcast from the Small Arms Survey’s Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project investigates the moderate opposition in the Syrian conflict: what types of organizations have they developed? How do they acquire resources, including fighters and materiel? How do they govern the territories they hold? And among so many opposition groups...
Apr 05, 2016•7 min
More than 20,000 foreign fighters have fought in Syria, mostly for jihadist groups like Islamic State (IS), and North Africa has provided a large portion of these foreign fighters. The Small Arms Survey's Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project has investigated the motivations and pathways that take North African fighters to Syria. The Issue Brief There and Back: Trajectories of North African Foreign Fighters in Syria, based on available literature, media reports, and interviews with ...
Oct 06, 2015•6 min
On the 1st of June the Public Panel Discussion “Women and Armed Violence: Peace and Gender Equality” was hosted at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva. Part of the TERRE DES FEMMES Switzerland annual speaker series, VOIX DES FEMMES, the event was also organised by the Small Arms Survey and the Graduate Institute’s Programme on Gender and Global Change (PGGC).
Jul 13, 2015•8 min
Every Body Counts is the 2015 edition of the Global Burden of Armed Violence, which reveals that while violent deaths have decreased globally, armed conflict has become more lethal. The publication estimates that 508,000 people died violently each year during 2007–12. While this figure shows a decline, the proportion of conflict-related deaths has increased. In this podcast Ambassador Claude Wild of the Swiss Government's Human Security Division, UNDP Geneva Director Neil Buhne, and Small Arms S...
Jun 22, 2015•5 min
In the second installment of this two-episode podcast on 'Small Arms Survey 2015: Weapons and the World', Yearbook Coordinator Glenn McDonald and Researcher Claudia Seymour introduce the four case studies discussing armed actors, focusing on their procurement and use of small arms, and their stockpile management practices.
Jun 02, 2015•9 min
The Small Arms Survey 2015: Weapons and the World explores the theme of weapons and the environment, as well as offering case studies on a range of aspects of small arms and armed violence. In the first of this two-episode podcast, Senior Researcher Khristopher Carlson and Yearbook Coordinator Glenn McDonald discuss five of the book's chapters, covering weapons and the environment, trade in weapons, and measures to regulate and control small arms.
May 31, 2015•10 min
The second part of the two-part podcast discussing the Small Arms Survey's engagement in measuring SDG Goal 16, which focuses on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice, and accountable institutions. This episode examines SDG Target 16.4, which calls for a significant reduction in illicit arms flows. Beyond acknowledging the link between illicit weapons, armed violence, and insecurity, it is crucial to identify ways of measuring and understanding the illicit arms trade. Senior Resear...
Apr 23, 2015•6 min
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a new proposed framework to come into effect after the Millennium Development Goals. Amongst them, Goal 16 focuses on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice, and accountable institutions. This goal is a significant step towards recognizing that preventing and reducing violence is essential for development. In the first part of this two-episode podcast Small Arms Survey experts explain how the Global Burden of Armed Violence (GBAV) initiat...
Apr 16, 2015•7 min
In September 2014, in Istanbul, the Small Arms Survey held a weapons identification workshop for journalists reporting from conflict areas. Meeting the need for precise contextual information on the weapons used in conflict, and their origins, Small Arms Survey researchers introduced journalists to weapons identification techniques and practical considerations. By encouraging closer collaboration between journalists, researchers, and other specialists, the Survey contributes to better a understa...
Feb 08, 2015•9 min
The dialogue continues on developments in weapons technology and the challenges they present for arms control. Benjamin King and Glenn McDonald explain how the modular design of weapons systems complicates weapons marking, record -keeping, and tracing. They also examine the issues raised by the conversion of replica firearms into viable weapons; and they consider how new weapons technology presents opportunities for improved stockpile management. This is the second part of a two-part podcast tha...
Oct 21, 2014•8 min
New developments in small arms manufacturing, technology, and design pose important challenges for weapons marking, record keeping, and tracing. The Small Arms Survey has drafted a series of discussion papers to be presented at the UN First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2014. These papers, which are due for public release later in the year as chapters in an Occasional Paper, cover a range of subjects: the additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) of smal...
Oct 19, 2014•9 min
Contrary to the impression given by Hollywood's depictions, most firearms seized from drug traffickers and gang members in the United States are handguns, not automatic rifles or sub-machine guns. In this podcast, senior researcher Matt Schroeder highlights and explains key findings from his analysis of more than 140,000 records on firearms seized from criminals in eight US cities. These findings were released this summer as a chapter in Small Arms Survey 2014: Women and Guns.
Sep 22, 2014•7 min
Around 875 million firearms are in circulation worldwide, with three-quarters of these in civilian hands, according to Small Arms Survey estimates. These widely-cited calculations are the result of an ongoing programme on inventories and stockpiles—started over a decade ago—to gather comprehensive data on the distribution of small arms and light weapons around the world. The programme has developed an ever larger pool of information that was initially scarce and unsystematic, but now can provide...
Sep 03, 2014•10 min
Unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS) are a significant safety concern for governments and a major security challenge for the international community. The Small Arms Survey has documented more than 500 such incidents in 100 countries over the 35-year period from 1979 to 2013. The Handbook 'Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites (UEMS): Excess Stockpiles as Liabilities rather than Assets', published in June 2014, is a reference and training tool that provides contextual information and ...
Jul 21, 2014•8 min
The Small Arms Survey's Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) for Sudan and South Sudan has documented armed conflict dynamics in the two countries since 2006. In a May 2014 interview, HSBA consultant Joshua Craze, author of several HSBA reports, describes recent developments in South Sudan's political and humanitarian crisis, which has continued to evolve since December 2013. The second part of this two-part podcast, based on a May 2014 interview with HSBA consultant Joshua Craze, describes...
Jul 01, 2014•11 min
