The past decade has seen an increase in the intensity and impact of conflict and violence on civilians globally. The uncontrolled spread and availability of guns and munitions prolongs conflict and increases this impact. 

Small arms and ammunition are regularly stolen and trafficked across borders and illicitly traded, fuelling more armed violence against civilians.  

Weapons and ammunition are often stored in or near built-up areas where an unplanned explosion can have devastating consequences, causing mass death, injury and destruction.

We destroy and help to secure small arms, light weapons and ammunition to prevent them being used to perpetrate armed violence and insecurity, and to reduce the risk of devastating unplanned explosions. Our work fosters stable and secure societies and is a key enabler of progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Our weapons and ammunition work establishes security measures to reduce the risk of small arms being stolen and misused. Simple, lockable small arms and gun racks produced locally according to MAG designs are a key part of our armoury rehabilitation. Record-keeping is also an essential component of weapons management and we encourage people to be accountable for weapons assigned to them.

Marking weapons according to regional and international standards plays an important role in addressing the illicit market and promoting safer cities and communities. We train people on how best to do this and on weapon database management.

Safe and accountable destruction methods ensure that all the working parts of a weapon are unusable and that the ammunition is completely destroyed so it cannot cause harm.

MAG has developed a range of capacity development and training courses tailored to national and regional contexts. We work with partners and national authorities to design, develop and implement their national small arms action plans.