Small Arms Survey Podcasts

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 at all levels and stages of the life cycle, as well as the differentiated impacts of weak LCMA practices on women, men, girls, and boys? Addressing these issues and giving their insights on the gendered impacts of unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS) and ammunition diversion, are Katherine Prizeman from UNODA and Emile LeBrun from the Small Arms Survey.

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 Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC); and Cameron Trainer, research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. This episode forms part of the Small Arms Survey project Strengthening Implementation and Enforcement of the Arms Embargo on North Korea (SAENK), supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

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 trafficking. The episode forms part of the Small Arms Survey project Strengthening Implementation and Enforcement of the Arms Embargo on North Korea (SAENK), supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

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, independent researcher • Allison Pytlak, disarmament programme manager, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) 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, indepe

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.

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.

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-Sahara region.

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.

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.

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.

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 illicit arms flows by 2030. The analysis stresses the crucial role of weapons tracing in the estimation of illicit arms flows, underlines the importance of international arms control instruments in reaching target 16.4, and highlights the contributions different national and international actors can make to these efforts. The experts interviewed are Glenn McDonald, Small Arms Survey senior researcher, Simonetta Grassi, Head of the Global Firearms Programme Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch, Division for Tre

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 gathering data in non-conflict settings. While most of the countries in the world can be classified as ‘non-conflict’, there are still significant variations from one region to another. Featured experts talk about the challenges and opportunities they face while conducting such research, as well as the links between conflict and non-conflict areas that have an impact on this endeavour. The podcasts presents inputs by Nils Duquet, Researcher at the Flemish Peace Institute; Nicolas Florquin Senior Researcher and Researc

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 Anders, Researcher on Illicit Arms Trafficking; James Bevan, Executive Director, Conflict Armament Research; Nicolas Florquin, Senior Researcher and Research Coordinator, Small Arms Survey; and Savannah de Tessières, currently a consultant with the Small Arms Survey and the UN, each talking about illicit arms flows in conflict and post-conflict contexts. The Small Arms Survey produces these podcasts in parallel to case studies on measuring illicit arms flows in: Honduras (available in English and Spanish), Somalia (a

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 interview, lead author Emile LeBrun describes the evolving roles of panels of experts, the objectives and methods of the study undertaken, and some of the key findings.

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.

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, how do they coordinate with their allies and define their enemies? Exploring findings from the recent SANA Dispatch, Syria’s Armed Opposition: A Spotlight on the ‘Moderates’, the report’s author Saskia Bass and Small Arms Survey Research Coordinator Nicolas Florquin provide insights into a constantly evolving set of actors.

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 experts, activists, and Syrians who have lived under the yoke of IS, explores the motivations of North African fighters, including how they were recruited and how they made their way from their home countries to the Syrian battlefields. In this Small Arms Survey podcast, the authors, consultant Laurent Vinatier and Arabic Outreach Coordinator Hasnaa El Jamali, discuss their research and its findings.

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).

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 Survey Programme Director Keith Krause explain the significance and its relevance to security and the post-2015 sustainable development framework.

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.