Small Arms Survey podcasts

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. In the first part of the interview, he describes the current crisis and the many competing stakeholders and claims; the second part of the interview, to follow, outlines possible scenarios for the country's future. For an extended version of the interview and its transcript, please visit www.smallarmssurveysudan.org.

Man-portable air defence systems--MANPADS--are lightweight, usually shoulder-launched, surface-to-air missiles. These weapons systems have proliferated in conflict zones, and their widespread acquisition by non-state armed groups has attracted attention and caused disquiet amongst the security sector. In this podcast the Small Arms Survey's Matt Schroeder discusses the use of MANPADS and the challenges they present to the research community and to security providers.

Small Arms Survey’s Working Paper On the Edge? Trafficking and Insecurity at the Tunisian–Libyan Border examines the effects of the Libyan armed conflict and its aftermath on the security situation in Tunisia. Based on primary field research conducted in the Jefara region, which borders Libya, the study delves into the complex interactions between actors and processes, in a politically and economically turbulent region. In this podcast Dr. Moncef Kartas, the report author and coordinator of the Security Assessment In North Africa (SANA) project, discusses the study's scope and the policy implications of its findings.

In the second installment of this two-part podcast discussing the book Controlling Small Arms: Consolidation, Innovation and Relevance in Research and Policy, chapter authors talk about the gains made in small arms control during fifteen years of research, policy and advocacy efforts. They draw attention to several current challenges, and map out some of the ways forward for research and action.

Controlling Small Arms: Consolidation, Innovation and Relevance in Research and Policy is a new book from the Small Arms Survey, published by Routledge, which maps out the evolution of our knowledge on small arms issues, and discusses practical implementation of programmes and processes, both at the national level and globally.

The two-part podcast brings together some of the chapter authors to reflect on 15 years of research and policy development in the area of small arms research and policies. In this first installment, chapter authors discuss the interaction between research and policy, describing the community involved in small arms issues, and their distinct perspectives.

The Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) is a multi-year project of the Small Arms Survey. The HSBA project was established in 2005 in the wake of the comprehensive peace agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudan’s People Liberation Movement, which put an end to 20 years of civil strife, in order to gauge the security situation and provide information on small arms and security issues. The project serves to support violence reduction initiatives through its research and dissemination of salient information. Findings are regularly released as Issue Briefs, Working Papers, and online Facts & Figures reports. In this podcast HSBA series editor Emile Lebrun and HSBA project coordinator Jonah Leff discuss the project and some of its findings.

The Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) initiative encourages nine affected South-east European governments to develop a pro-active, coordinated, regional approach to secure and destroy excess stockpiles. The RASR initiative's aim is to prevent disastrous explosions and misuse of conventional weapons and munitions. The Small Arms Survey has provided support to its activities since its creation, by maintaining the RASR website, participating in workshops, and carrying out essential research. In this podcast the Small Arms Survey's Jovana Carapic and Pierre Gobinet explain the policy-relevant link between Survey research related to the RASR initiative and a recent study on the ammunition demilitarization industry.

Each year the Small Arms Survey yearbook presents several chapters that update specific recurring themes. In the second instalment of the podcast on this year's edition, Small Arms Survey 2013: Everyday Dangers, Yearbook Coordinator Glenn McDonald introduces the chapters on international regulation of small arms, demilitarization, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Senior Researcher Nicolas Florquin provides updates on the Survey’s multi-year study on illicit weapons and ammunition markets, and the Transparency Barometer, which monitors how states report on small arms transfers.

The findings of the Small Arms Survey 2013: Everyday Dangers were presented in New York on 21 October 2013 at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations, on the first day of the 68th session of the United Nations First Committee, on Disarmament and International Security.

The Small Arms Survey 2013, launched in July in Geneva, focuses on small arms and armed violence outside war zones. In this first instalment of a two-part episode on the flagship publication, Research Director Anna Alvazzi del Frate and Senior Researcher Nicolas Florquin discuss the yearbook's central themes. A second instalment will offer insights into the Small Arms Survey yearbook's recurring topics.

This two-part podcast is based on interviews with participants at the Expert Meeting on armed violence observatories and monitoring systems held on 26-28 June 2013 by the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, the Small Arms Survey, and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. The first set of interviews looked at why armed violence monitoring systems are needed and how they work.

The second installment of the podcast brings testimonies on the challenges of using data gathered by armed violence observatories to build policy action. Discussing these issues are Geneva Declaration Project Coordinator Luigi De Martino, UNDP Sudan Max Halty, ISS Pretoria’s Crime and Justice Hub Manager Lizette Lancaster, and criminologist Yann-Cedric Quéro, from the Université of Montréal.