Action on Armed Violence seeks to reduce the impact of armed violence through monitoring and research of the causes and consequences of weapon-based violence. We have a specific focus on the impact of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas and have been running a global monitor of explosive violence since October 2010.

In 2018, AOAV recorded 32,110 casualties from explosive violence, of which 70% (22,342) were civilians. When explosive weapons were used in populated areas such as towns and cities, 90% of those were civilians.

In addition to monitoring harm, we have investigated numerous case studies of explosive weapon harm, including the long-term harm from explosive weapons in Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Syria, air strikes by NATO forces, improvised explosive device attacks by jihadist terrorists and the wide area harm of explosive weapons in Ukraine, Jordan and Israel, amongst others.

Our work is disseminated at international forums, such as the UN and we have presented evidence of explosive violence harm to the UK parliament and to numerous think tank and public debates. Our work is widely cited in the media and we are a regular commentator on armed violence internationally.