Study title

The overall ACE project is motivated by the need to better understand the behaviour of non-state armed groups in perpetrating atrocity crimes such as crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. The data collection is based on six countries Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, and Somalia with a focus on non-state actor perpetrated atrocity events. The aim is to have a fine-grained event data collection of different types of atrocity crimes in these countries. These event types are derived from the Rome Statute. More specifically, the unit of observation in ACE is the event where a named state or non-state actor is involved on a given day in a specific location. Each individual event is covered with the best precision regarding the type of event, location, perpetrator and victims.Since 2010, there has been a 'dramatic resurgence' of violent conflict around the world (United Nations, 2018, p. v). As part of this trend, mass atrocity crimes, defined as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing (GWCE), have become 'the new normal' (Human Rights Watch 2018). At this time of writing, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) identifies seven countries that are 'currently' experiencing GWCE, three at 'imminent risk', seven of 'serious concern', and thirteen being 'monitored' because they have experienced GWCE in the recent past (Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect 2019). These crises have seen millions of people killed, tens of thousands raped, and underpin an unprecedented refugee crisis. Although mass violence is not a new phenomenon, non-state armed groups such as Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Boko Haram, Lord's Resistance Army, and Al-Shabaab are increasingly playing a critical role in the perpetration of atrocity crimes leading to key policymakers calling for urgent research on this specific threat (see case for support). Responding to this new reality,...