Violence against women, and the reluctance of authorities to deal with it, present a serious challenge to Indian society, law enforcement, and judicial affairs. Numerous incidents involving group rapes and rape and murder—such as the Nirbhaya case in New Delhi in 2012—have captured national and international attention. While domestic violence and public intimidation are familiar to women across India, statistics remain scarce and unreliable.

The Missing Middle: Examining the Armed Group Phenomenon in Nepal analyses the phenomenon of armed groups in Nepal. It examines their history, their initial proliferation following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), their development and overlap with other societal groups, the reasons behind their recent decline, and their relationship to the state.

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In the wake of a decade-long civil war that claimed more than 13,000 lives, Nepal’s uneasy peace has been plagued by uncertainties, tied to the volatile political environment, the gridlocks over the drafting of the new constitution, and the reported proliferation of criminal activities. This rapid succession of changes has raised new questions about the overall security situation in the country.

Accurate and reliable data on the scope, scale, and causes of all forms of armed violence is vital for shaping policy, developing responses, and monitoring progress.

Mechanisms for monitoring and analysing situations of conflict, crime and violence, such as observatories on crime and violence, or armed violence monitoring systems (AVMSs), have helped to improve the effectiveness of  armed violence reduction.

A recent survey on perceptions of security in Kenya found that the highest area of concern among household respondents was safety during electioneering periods. Specifically, 48.4 per cent felt most unsafe during political campaigns: an understandable anxiety, given Kenya’s recent political history and its recurrent electoral violence.

Almost one-half of Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence, including forced sexual initiation. Much of the violence is barely acknowledged, let alone investigated and prosecuted. Extreme and even fatal acts of violence—targeting poor women in particular—are common enough to be considered unremarkable, a non-issue for the media, the political class, the police, and by extension, the Kenyan state.

Violent deaths make up a substantial proportion of global mortality and morbidity: up to 600,000 occur annually, accounting for around one per cent of global deaths. Among young adult males, deaths from intentional interpersonal violence—homicides—account for over ten per cent of all deaths.

Peace without Security: Violence against Women and Girls in Liberia analyses violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Liberia. First, it examines the extent to which women and girls in Liberia are victims of crimes and violence in general. It then focuses specifically on the patterns and characteristics of sexual and domestic violence. These latter forms of abuse, categorized as genderbased violence (GBV)3 because the victims are targeted on the basis of their gender, mainly affect females.

Karamoja, in the north-east of Uganda and one of the country’s least developed regions, has been plagued by decades-long inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic violence. The availability and use of small arms in the region has exacerbated the violence, and a climate of insecurity has hindered development. Various peace and security initiatives in the region aim to reduce the violence and improve security.

Together with local partners, the Small Arms Survey conducted a nationwide household survey in 2010 to fill some of the data gaps and to generate an evidence-based understanding of violence in post-war Liberia. This second Issue Brief of five relies on the survey findings, key informant interviews with local representatives—including city mayors, police officers, religious leaders, students, elders, and heads of grassroots organizations— and background papers produced by researchers in Liberia (Shilue, 2010; Blair, 2011; Dziewanski, 2011a).