Small arms and light weapons need ammunition. Government forces and armed groups cannot wage battle or train their troops without a sustained supply of ammunition, and its availability determines the type of weapons used in most of the conflicts around the world. The surplus ammunition market provides the buyers with cheap, easily available, and compatible rounds. It also allows the suppliers to reduce potentially obsolete national stockpiles, and to benefit from the revenues of surplus sales.

The Small Arms Survey 2015: Weapons and the World examines the role of weapons and armed violence in humanity’s appropriation of the earth’s wildlife and mineral riches—in Africa, where the poaching of elephants and rhinos is becoming increasingly militarized, and near resource extraction sites around the world.

Ammunition is an expensive commodity and an essential resource for the implementation of a national defence and security policy. However, national ammunition stockpiles can also pose risks to national security and public safety. Poor accounting and inadequate physical security of storage facilities can facilitate the diversion of ammunition from the national stockpile to terrorists, criminals, and other armed groups, increasing insecurity and instability.

Unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS) are a significant safety concern for governments and a major security challenge for the international community. 

This Handbook contains analysis of this data, with many helpful tables, figures, maps, and annexes. It serves three primary purposes, striving to:

This Report summarizes both the formal contributions made by presenters at the fourth MPOME Regional Workshop and the discussions that ensued. The workshop was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Available in: ENGLISH | FRENCH

This report details efforts to improve weapons and ammunition management in non-United Nations (UN) peace operations in order to enhance force protection and mandate implementation.

More than 25 organizations apart from the UN have deployed more than 100 peace operations to date. These non-UN organizations face the same challenges as the UN in securing their contingent-owned equipment (COE) and the lethal materiel they recover. Non-UN peace operations may even be more vulnerable to these challenges than UN operations.

This Report summarizes the formal contributions made by presenters at the third MPOME Regional Workshop and the discussions that ensued. The workshop was held at the National Peace Operations Training Center of Uruguay (ENOPU) in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Available in:  ENGLISH | SPANISH

This Report summarizes both the formal contributions made by presenters at the second MPOME Regional Workshop and the discussions that ensued. The workshop was held at the International Peace Support Training Centre in Karen, Kenya.

Available in: ENGLISH

There are more than one billion firearms in the world, the vast majority of which are in civilian hands, according to 2018 research. The Small Arms Survey presents its findings on the number of firearms held by civilians, law enforcement agencies, and military forces in a series of three Briefing Papers.

There are more than one billion firearms in the world, the vast majority of which are in civilian hands, according to 2018 research. The Small Arms Survey presents its findings on the number of firearms held by civilians, law enforcement agencies, and military forces in a series of three Briefing Papers.