'High-profile port seizures consistently disprove a long-held assumption regarding arms trafficking - demonstrating that the world's most destabilizing volumes of illicit weapons move not across land borders, but by sea. The Global Study on Firearms Trafficking 2020 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that while interceptions from vessels constitute only 6% of global customs cases, they account for roughly 33% of all firearms seized by customs. Traffickers favour using maritime routes for high-volume bulk consignments over carrying smaller quantities by land.

« À ce jour, les données sur les victimes des UEMS sont rarement ventilées par sexe et il n’existe que peu d’analyses des impacts sexospécifiques des UEMS sur les populations civiles à court, moyen et long terme. Cet article est une première étape pour combler cette lacune. Il s’appuie sur des entretiens menés par une équipe d’enquêteur·rices nationaux·ales dans un quartier touché par une UEMS en Afrique.

While efforts are underway, Ukraine does not currently have a comprehensive and robust small arms regulation framework. There is also a severe lack of reliable data on violent crime, as well as its relationship to firearms ownership and use. This is particularly true when it comes to gendered dimensions of crime and small arms use in Ukraine. Moreover, there is little informed and sustained public national debate on the issue of firearms control and its gendered impacts.

At the Fourth Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons in 2024, member states expressed concern that the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons impedes the achievement of gender equality. This has long been understood by women’s civil society organizations, as well as several states that have both experienced and documented the gender-differentiated impacts of small arms and light weapons and their broader impacts on human rights.

At the Fourth Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons in 2024, member states expressed concern that the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons impedes the achievement of gender equality. This has long been understood by women’s civil society organizations, as well as several states that have both experienced and documented the gender-differentiated impacts of small arms and light weapons and their broader impacts on human rights.

'The globalization and expansion of the private security industry has led to concerns about whether the industry has adequate safeguards to prevent sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and other human rights abuses, by its personnel.'

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'As it enters its tenth year, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) stands as one of the newest multilateral initiatives seeking to address the impact of the global arms trade.

'During the pandemic-imposed restrictions of 2021, Argentinian society faced an unrelated outbreak of femicides committed by members of the country’s security forces.

'In 2013, the United Nations Security Council pledged to ‘increase its attention to women, peace and security issues in all relevant thematic areas of work on its agenda, including … threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts’.

'The Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine has exacted a devastating toll on the Ukrainian civilian population. Mounting an adequate humanitarian response will hinge on properly quantifying its scale and nature—never an easy task in a conflict zone, and immeasurably harder amid the fog of disinformation.