About the S⁴ Initiative

Contingent-owned equipment (COE) in peace operations and government stockpiles in conflict zones are important sources of both lethal materiel and components used to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for many non-state armed groups. This materiel enables violent extremism and retards both humanitarian assistance and developmental initiatives. Research has demonstrably shown that weapons and ammunition management (WAM) practices in numerous missions were sub-optimal—not only for COE, but also for recovered materiel from enemy forces. Policymakers and practitioners in the arms control and peace operations communities have made efforts to improve the status quo. Recognition of the problem is an important achievement, but gains so far are modest.

The S⁴ Initiative’s 2021 study on attacks on security forces in the Lake Chad Basin underscored two important truths: (1) focusing on peacekeepers within a mission to the exclusion of national security personnel working alongside them undermines prospects for improvement; and (2) engaging only the small arms and peace operations communities is insufficient. As S⁴ has also shown, armed groups’ seizure of state-owned lethal materiel is not limited to the Lake Chad Basin region.

Also of concern is that many governments are arming their civilians, sometimes without robust checks and balances against misuse or misappropriation of the firearms they have furnished. They do so because of the growing threats non-state armed groups pose to their citizens and the deteriorating or non-existent ability of state security forces to uphold law and order. Whereas in the past, arms provided were mostly rudimentary hunting rifles, they now tend to include shotguns and assault rifles.