The following list of databases and datasets offers access to publicly available data on human security related issues. We welcome corrections and suggested additions.
▪ Center for International Development and Conflict Management International Crises Behavior The ICB dataset at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland is a database covering all international and foreign policy crises for the period 1918-2013. The newest release of these data contains information on 470 crises and 1,036 crisis actors from the end of World War I through 2013.
▪ Center for the Study of Civil War, PRIO CSCW has developed a set of datasets for use in the study of the determinants of armed conflict. In addition, CSCW has adapted several other datasets for use in quantitative studies of armed conflict. We have grouped the datasets thematically into four categories: Armed Conflict, Governance, Geographical and Resources, and Economic and Social-Demographics.
▪ The Center for Systemic Peace CSP is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system, that is, global systems analysis. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in
many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal development.
▪ Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset CIRI contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 195 countries, annually from 1981-2007. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention.
▪ Freedom House Freedom in the World Freedom in the World, Freedom House’s flagship publication, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. Published annually since 1972, the survey ratings and narrative reports on 193 countries and 15 related and disputed territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide.
▪ Fund For Peace Failed State Index The FSI focuses on the indicators of risk and is based on thousands of articles and reports that are processed by its CAST Software from electronically available sources. Only recognized sovereign states based on UN membership are included in the Failed States Index. Thus, several territories – such as Taiwan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Kosovo whose status is not final – will be excluded until their political status and UN membership is ratified. The index measures the world’s most at-risk countries according to 12 social, economic, political and military indicators.
▪ Guardian Data Journalism and Data Visualization The Guardian.co.uk maintains a multifaceted database consisting of world data, development data, and US data.
▪ Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland Small Arms Survey The Small Arms Survey is an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. It serves as the principal international source of public information on all aspects of small arms and as a resource for governments, policy-makers, researchers, and activists.
▪ Hiedelberg Institute on International Conflict Research Conflict Barometer The Conflict Barometer describes recent trends in conflict development, escalations, and settlements.
▪ Human Rights Data Analysis Group Benetech Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) designs and builds information management solutions and conducts statistical analysis on behalf of human rights projects. With our partners, we make scientifically-defensible arguments based in rigorous evidence.
▪ Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research ICPSR offers more than 500,000 digital files containing social science research data. Disciplines represented include political science, sociology, demography, economics, history, gerontology, criminal justice, public health, foreign policy, terrorism, health and medical care, early education, education, racial and ethnic minorities, psychology, law, substance abuse and mental health, and more. (You will need to be on campus or connected through remote access to use this site.)
▪ Lacina/Gleditsh Dataset The Lacina/Gleditsch Dataset includes information on the global and regional numbers of reported, codable battle-deaths from state-based conflict for the period 1946-2005. Information is also available by conflict type.
▪ Landmine Monitor Landmine Monitor is an initiative providing research for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). It is the de facto monitoring regime for the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Landmine Monitor produces several research products including the annual Landmine Monitor, and Cluster Munition reports, as well as factsheets and maps.
▪ National Counterterrorism Center of the US Government Worldwide Incidents Tracking System - The Worldwide Incidents Tracking System is the National Counterterrorism Center's database of terrorist incidents.
▪ The Norwegian Refugee Council Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), established in 1998 by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), is the leading international body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide. At the request of the United Nations, the Geneva-based IDMC runs an online database providing comprehensive information and analysis on internal displacement in some 50 countries.
▪ Political Terror Scale The PTS releases a yearly report measuring physical integrity rights violations world-wide. The PTS measures levels of political violence and terror that a country experiences in a particular year based on a 5-level “terror scale.” The data used in compiling this index comes from two different sources: the yearly country reports of Amnesty International and the U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
▪ Project Ploughshares Armed Conflicts Report The Armed Conflicts Report is a compilation of detailed descriptions of ongoing conflicts around the world.
▪ ReliefWeb ReliefWeb is the world’s leading online gateway to information on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. Designed specifically to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance, it provides timely, reliable, and relevant information as events unfold, while emphasizing the coverage of “forgotten emergencies” at the same time.
▪ SIPRI Arms Transfers Database The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database is a fully searchable online database containing information on all international transfers of seven categories of major conventional weapons from 1950 to the most recent full calendar year. It can be used to generate detailed written reports and statistical data.
▪ SIPRI Multinational Peace Operations Database The SIPRI Multilateral Peace Operations Database contains information on all UN and non-UN peace operations conducted since 2000. The SIPRI Multilateral Peace Operations Database is a uniquely source of transparent and reliable data on all multilateral peace operations (both UN and non-UN) conducted around the world. It contains information on where an operation is located, the dates of its deployment and operation, the mission mandate, the participating countries, the approved and actual number of personnel deployed, broken down into personnel types, the financial costs and the number of fatalities suffered.
▪ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) The UNHCR provides comprehensive statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, returned refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons in more than 150 countries.
▪ Uppsala Conflict Data Program The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) collects information on a large number of aspects of armed violence since 1946. Since the 1970s, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) has recorded ongoing violent conflicts. This effort continues to the present day, now coupled with the collection of information on an ever broadening scope of aspects pertaining to organized violence, such as the resolution and dynamics of conflict. The UCDP data is one of the most accurate and well-used data-sources on global armed conflicts and its definition of armed conflict is becoming a standard in how conflicts are systematically defined and studied.
▪ US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) The USCRI provides information on numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons in each country in its annual World Refugee Surveys.
▪ World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators The Worldwide Governance Indicators reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for 212 countries and territories over the period 1996–2007, for six dimensions of governance: Voice and accountability, Political stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of law, and Control of Corruption.
Country Specific Databases
▪ Conflict Analysis Resource Center The CERAC collects extensive data on conflict in Colombia. CERAC currently has five research lines which focus on (1) Human Security Measurement, (2) Conflict Analysis, (3) Conflict Measurement, (4) Urban Security, and (5) Demographic Impact of Violence and Conflict in Colombia.
▪ Sutton Index of Deaths This index contains information compiled by author Malcolm Sutton on the incidents of deaths that have resulted from the conflict in Northern Ireland between 14 July 1969 and 31 December 2001.