Small arms and light weapons
Highly portable, easy to conceal and reliably deadly, small arms and light weapons - hand guns, rifles and automatic weapons are used to kill thousands worldwide each year.
What are small arms and light weapons?
What we do
We work with governments and civil society organisations across the world to better understand and tackle the small arms problems in their country or region.
We do this by:
- research
- working to strengthen policy and legislation
- raising public awarenesss
- building the capacity of governments and civil society organisations to tackle the problem
At the regional and global level, we work with partners to bring governments together to discuss common approaches to the problem of small arms. As part of this we monitor progress of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Read a case study about community consultations on small arms in Bangladesh
Read our latest paper on Uganda's arms transfers.
Reports and briefings
Third Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action, July 2008
Moldova and international small arms transfers: Implementing UN Programme of Action commitments, July 2008
Small arms and light weapons transfer controls to prevent diversion, August 2007
Mapping the small arms problem in Uganda, May 2007
Small arms production in Russia, March 2007
Taking stock: small arms and security in Georgia, September 2006
Small arms and light weapons survey of Kosovo, September 2006
Small arms and light weapons: example training materials, August 2006
Small arms and light weapons survey of Moldova, July 2006
Find out more
More information about our regional small arms can be found in the Africa, Asia and Europe pages.
Read more about our research on small arms and our small arms assessments
"Small arms are the real weapons of mass destruction."
Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary General
Contact
Roy Isbister
Team Leader
News
- Supporting security in Bangladesh
- Saferworld works with the police and local communities in Bangladesh to improve safety and security.
- Saferworld annual review
- In November Saferworld published its annual review
- Actvities October 2008
- Download Saferworld's activity report for October.
- UN First Committee vote on the Arms Trade Treaty
- The UN General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament and International Security votes to work towards an Arms Trade Treaty
- An open letter to international donors in Georgia
- Saferworld and other NGOs send an open letter to the international Donors' Conference on Georgia being held in Brussels on 22nd October.