Accurate data on the incidence and characteristics of violent injuries can be a powerful tool for understanding and responding to armed violence. Record keeping by hospitals, clinics, and other health facilities on the nature of injuries can provide crucial information on who is being injured, how, where, and under what circumstances. Data is essential for gaining a better understanding of the risk factors for victimization among diff erent segments of the population and for the design of interventions to reduce those risks.

Timor-Leste has held six national elections since independence in 1999. Throughout this period the incidence and severity of electoral violence has varied considerably. For example, between May and August 2007 violence escalated during parliamentary elections in spite of a code of conduct committing political parties to nonviolence. Group clashes and widespread destruction of property were accompanied by at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries as well as the uprooting of 7,000 families.

On 11 February 2008 Major Alfredo Reinado and a group of ex-F-FDTL1 soldiers known as the Petitioners, accompanied by allied ex-PNTL2 members, attacked the residence of President Jose Ramos Horta in Dili. The president, returning home from jogging, was shot and seriously wounded; security offi cers killed Reinado and one of his men. Less than two hours later, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão’s motorcade came under fi re from a group led by Petitioner leader Lieutenant Gastão Salsinha.

Six years after independence and two years after the ‘Krize’, the role of small arms in Timor-Leste society has not yet received a thorough accounting. Such weapons have played a decisive role in shaping repressive tactics of the former colonial powers and countermeasures by resistance movements, through to contemporary criminal violence. Today, against a backdrop of weak institutions, lingering tension, and poorly enforced legislation and arms control norms, military and civilian-style arms continue to trigger interpersonal and collective violence.

When one thinks of arms traffickers, the image that often comes to mind is of the stereotypical ‘Merchant of Death’ – ambitious, well-connected, globetrotting entrepreneurs who single-handedly arm warlords and insurgents across the world. While there is some truth to the stereotype, most illicit arms traffickers do not fit this profile.

Studying the evidence related to the burden of injury of a population is a critical component of developing strategies to prevent and reduce violence. In many countries around the world, national observatories have been established to collect data to measure and monitor armed violence in an effort to inform and strengthen evidence-based armed violence reduction initiatives.

Killings during ‘legal interventions’—the ‘killing of civilians by law enforcement officials, or killings of law enforcement officials on duty’—accounted for an estimated 19,000 violent deaths each year during 2007–2012; which is 4 per cent of the 508,000 total violent deaths each year during that period.

Such events raise questions about security policy, the role and accountability of the state and law enforcement agencies, the legitimacy of certain state actions, and potential avenues for security sector reform.

The looting of Libya’s massive stocks of weapons and ammunition was one of the most significant arms proliferation events of the 21st century. Anti-government forces seized tens of thousands of small arms, light weapons and other munitions, and thousands more were left unguarded in abandoned storage facilities. These weapons have fuelled crime and conflict in Libya and throughout North Africa.

In September 2015 world leaders will meet at the UN to adopt the Sustainable Devel­opment Goals (SDGs),which will be the international development framework that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals. The seventeen proposed goals and associated targets are planned to run until 2030. Among them, Goal 16 focuses on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to jus­tice, and accountable institutions.

Firearms conversion—mechanically altering an accessible replica firearm to function as a ‘real’ weapon—has been widely used by those wishing to circumvent legislation that restricts access to firearms.