Interview with Iain Overton of Action on Armed Violence

In this video I interview Iain Overton of Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

Full disclosure – I am on the Board for Action on Armed Violence.

Casualty recording often feeds into political activism. For example, AOAV’s Explosive Violence Monitor supports the work the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) which calls “for immediate action to prevent human suffering from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.”

Activity

1. When research is closely connected with advocacy there is a danger that research findings might be distorted to support advocacy goals. How can casualty recording work avoid this trap?
2. Do the principles of good casualty recording practice help to prevent advocacy goals from overwhelming research goals?

Please think through these issues and post your thoughts, ideas and questions in the comments area. It would be great if you can also read and respond to the comments of your fellow learners, as always in a respectful manner.

Also, you might want to bookmark some of your thoughts for possible redeployment for the discussion activity at the end of this Casualty Recording activity.

At my request Chris provided the following bio:

Iain Overton is the director of Action on Armed Violence, a charity that investigates the impact of explosive weapons and small arms on civilians around the world. He has been witness to the devastating impact of armed violence on numerous occasions and has reported on conflict or extremes of violence in Pakistan, Philippines, Kosovo, Nagorno Karabakh, Colombia, Honduras, Iraq, Solomon Islands, Mexico, the West Bank, Somalia and Liberia, among others. His human rights reporting has been awarded a Peabody Award, two Amnesty Awards and a BAFTA Scotland, among others.