The Caribbean region suffers from some of the world’s highest rates of violent deaths, at almost three times the global average, as well as one of the world’s highest rates of violent deaths among women. Firearms are used in more than half of all homicides, with this proportion reaching 90 per cent in some countries. While much emphasis has been placed on firearms control at both the political and operational levels, illicit firearms, and the dynamics of illicit arms markets in this region have received little research attention.

Almost one in three women across the globe — some 736 million women in total — have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, according to a landmark meta-analysis published by the World Health Organization in 2021. The presence of a firearm in the family home increases the risk not only that such acts will be committed but also that they will result in the death of the victim...

The Government of Sierra Leone, and the Small Arms Survey invite you to a roundtable discussion on identifying points of convergence between arms control initiatives and other processes relevant to the UN framework on sustaining peace, building on experience from West Africa.

Based on the case of Sierra Leone, the event will highlight how new-generation small arms national action plans (NAPs) can enhance the effectiveness of national policies and donor interventions across West Africa by linking with other relevant processes focusing on:

The Security Council has stated that: 'the illicit transfer, destabilizing accumulation, and misuse of small arms and light weapons fuel armed conflicts and have a wide range of […] consequences […], including the disproportionate impact on violence against women and girls and exacerbating sexual and gender-based violence in conflict.'

The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is the first legally binding agreement linking international conventional arms transfers to gender-based violence (GBV), but there has been limited practical application of these specific provisions to date.

This report documents the findings of the first ever national assessment of small arms prevalence and impacts in Nigeria. The National Small Arms and Light Weapons Survey (NSALWS), implemented in 2016 by Nigeria’s Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM), was conducted to better understand the prevalence, proliferation, perception, use and impacts of small arms in Nigeria. The Small Arms Survey supported PRESCOM on survey methodology and analysis, and with the provision of training on survey methods specific to small arms.

The Small Arms Survey's Marking, Record-keeping, and Tracing Implementation Support Cards were developed as a resource to promote easy understanding of the International Tracing Instrument (ITI).

Check out also our other sets of playing cards:

This blog post was published as part of the Global Partnership on Small Arms project, which was managed by the Small Arms Survey and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Global Partnership on Small Arms was a platform where stakeholders engaged in reducing or preventing illicit arms trafficking were able to interact; exchange information, experience, and knowledge; and give feedback to further their shared goals.

This blog post was published as part of the Global Partnership on Small Arms project, which was managed by the Small Arms Survey and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Global Partnership on Small Arms was a platform where stakeholders engaged in reducing or preventing illicit arms trafficking were able to interact; exchange information, experience, and knowledge; and give feedback to further their shared goals.

'Though the causes and factors driving conflicts in the [...] SADC region have varied over the past 20 years, illicit firearms and ammunition have continued to remain a common feature. In fact, the region suffers of one of the highest rates of violent deaths by firearms per 100,000 population in the world. To tackle these issues, the SADC member states adopted the Protocol on the Control of Firearms, Ammunition, and other Related Materials (the SADC Firearms Protocol).