Unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS) are a global problem. The Small Arms Survey defines UEMS as the accidental explosion of stockpiles of ammunition and explosives at storage sites, whether the stockpiles are properly stored or are abandoned, damaged, or improperly stored.
The Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) Expert Briefings are a 5-part webinar series that is taking place (almost) every Tuesday from 11 May until 15 June 2021 at 2pm Geneva time. Each live webinar briefing features one of our SANA experts addressing contemporary security issues in North Africa and Sahel-Sahara region, and reflecting on the questions received from the audience. The webinars particularly focus on security-related issues in North and West Africa, Chad, Morocco, Libya, and Burkina Faso.
'A series of massive blasts recently rocked Equatorial Guinea’s city of Bata. The explosions, at an army barracks, killed over 100 people and destroyed military buildings as well as people’s homes around the site. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema stated that the explosions were “caused by negligence of the unit in charge of storing explosives, dynamite and ammunition at the Nkoa Ntoma military camp”.
'When women are killed it tends to happen in the domestic sphere, and the perpetrator is often a current or former partner (Alvazzi del Frate, 2011, p. 114; Shaw, 2013, p. 18). Depending on the circumstances, such violence can be categorized as femicide, which is a form of gender-based violence (GBV).
'Cities continue to increase in importance, acting as magnets for migration, innovation, and economic concentration. In 2015, almost four billion people lived in cities, a number that’s expected to increase to five billion by 2030. The UN has noted that challenges for growing cities include growing slums, increased air pollution, and heightened risks of disasters for the population. But what about violence? City dwellers are often perceived as being at more risk of violence than those in rural areas, but this is not always the case...'
Check out this infographic for a snapshot of our 2020 update on global violent deaths (GVD)—on 2018 figures.
More on our GVD database here.
Available in: ENGLISH
Armed and Aimless: Armed Groups, Guns, and Human Security in the ECOWAS Region provides detailed information on more than 35 armed groups that have destabilized the 15 ECOWAS member states since 1998, and explores important related themes through 6 field-based case study chapters, including:
The militarization of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), especially in Africa, is causing growing alarm within the humanitarian and development communities. The planned and spontaneous arming of refugees and IDPs threatens access to asylum as well as protection. But while the policy debates rage over how to deal with armed refugees and how to prevent their spillover into neighbouring countries, surprisingly little research has been done to explain why displaced people arm themselves or how militarization affects the local and host populations.
This is the first book to provide a comprehensive assessment of small arms and security-related issues in post-9/11 Afghanistan. It includes case studies which reveal the findings of in-depth field research on hitherto neglected regions of the country, and provides a distinctive balance of thematic analysis, conceptual models and empirical research.
Between 1997 and 2006, the Central African Republic (CAR) hosted four international peacekeeping operations and witnessed conflicts in neighbouring states that have routinely made international headlines. Yet relatively little literature exists on the country. Central African Republic and Small Arms: A Regional Tinderbox has relevance far beyond the troubled, landlocked nation that is its subject.