The burden of harm: Monitoring explosive violence in 2017

This 2017 report presents the findings of the seventh consecutive year of Action on Armed Violence’s (AOAV) Explosive Violence Monitoring Project (EVMP). The EVMP tracks the impact of explosive weapon use worldwide as reported in the English-language media.

The most notable finding of the report was that there was an increase in civilian deaths from explosive violence – 38% more than in 2016 – a death toll that is, in large part, down to the substantive increase in air-strikes around the world last year. 14,342 civilians were recorded killed or injured by air-launched attacks, in 2017 44% more than in 2016.

Since the monitor began in 2010, AOAV has recorded the appalling suffering caused across the globe by both manufactured and improvised weapons. This continued harm that has now manifested in the international refugee and displaced persons crisis shows the urgent need for action to combat and reduce the harm these weapons continue to cause.