Action on Armed Violence (AOAV)

About us

Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) under its original name—Landmine Action—the organisation was founded in 1992 as the U.K. arm of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). AOAV is a UK-based charitable organisation with a central mission: to reduce harm and to rebuild lives affected by armed violence.

AOAV carries out investigations, advocacy and field programmes towards a single goal - reducing the incidence and impact of armed violence.
• Strengthen international commitment and capacity to achieve measurable reductions in armed violence.
• Increase effective support for communities affected by armed violence.
• Build norms and laws to stop the use of weapons that cause unacceptable civilian harm.

Our work is divided into three main areas:
• Acting on weapons
• Assisting Victims
• Supporting communities

Activities:
• We do this by carrying out field work, research and advocacy to reduce the incidence and impact of global armed violence.
• We seek to remove the threat of weapons, monitor the impact of explosive weapons around the world and investigate what causes armed violence – from guns to suicide bombings. We aim to clear land of explosive weapons and work with governments to regulate guns.
• We work with victims of armed violence, offering psychosocial assistance, providing opportunities to help them earn a living and to try to reduce conflict at local levels.
• We work to build communities affected by armed violence, working with governments and measuring and monitoring the incidences and impacts of armed violence around the world.

The Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) organization works both to prevent and reduce the impact of armed violence, particularly in Burundi, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Western Sahara and Nigeria. In these countries, AOAV:
• helps victims of armed violence by offering loans and grants to run small businesses;
• provides job training to disaffected youth, thereby helping them break out of the circle of violence;
• runs major de-mining operations in the Sahara (to prevent the devastating impact mines have on local communities);
• helps monitor levels of violence in cooperation with local governments and civil society.

Jose de la Cruz is the Head of Fundraising at Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.