Vranckx An

An Vranckx was a researcher at the GRIP « Small Arms and Arms Transfers» project until March 2017. Before joining GRIP, she worked on similar issues as a coordinator for the International Peace Information Service – IPIS (1999-2007) and as an adviser to Saferworld (2012-2013).

Her research focuses on transfers of conventional arms, including small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their munitions, and on the proliferation of the latter SALW. Areas of her scrutiny include control of international arms transfers, end-user control, diversion, brokering, illicit trafficking and tracing and marking of arms. She is well-versed in national and regional initiatives that seek to contain excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread and use of SALW, particularly in Latin America (Colombia, Mexico and Central America) and West Africa. She also monitors European arms transfer regulations and European Union member states’ actual transfer practices.

An Vranckx trained as a researcher at the University of Amsterdam and holds a PhD, as well as master degrees in international and European law, science and technology dynamics and linguistics from the Free University of Brussels - VUB. She is a lecturer on Conflict and Development at the University of Ghent political science faculty, where she is associated with the Conflict Research Group. As of 2009 she has been an Associated Researcher at the United Nations University – Comparative Regional Integrations Studies. As of 2013 she is a member of the Expert Group on Measures against Illicit Trafficking in Firearms (created by the European Commission by Decision of 11/4/2013). From 2010 to 2013 she was on the Board of Directors of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), and from 2005 to 2010 she was on the Scientific Board of the Flemish Peace Institute.

Selection of publications

• “A case of SALW-control and diversion in the real world – Are smart enough measures being taken to combat problematic ownership and use of small arms and light weapons?” Berlin/Bonn: Auswärtiges Ambt & BICC, January 2014.
• (with Maria Victoria Llorente) “El control democrático de las armas ilegales en Colombia: una apuesta de construcción de paz”. In: Angelika Rettberg (red.) Construcción de paz en Colombia. Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes, 2012, p. 383-403.
• “Promoting EU-China-Africa dialogue and cooperation to control illicit trafficking and excessive spread of small arms and light weapons (SALW)”, Saferworld Briefing to the EU-China-Africa dialogue and cooperation on conventional arms control, London: Saferworld, 2012.
• “Can a Civil Society Watchdog Help Boost Arms Export Compliance?” United Nations University (2012)
• (edited with Frank Slijper & Roy Isbister) Lessons from MENA – Appraising EU transfers of military and security equipment to the Middle East and North Africa. Ghent: Academia Press, 2011, 57p. (ISBN 978 90 382 1870 0).
• “Machismo onder druk - Gewapend geweld in Latijns-Amerika”. In: Marysa Demoor, Liselotte Vandenbussche & Mariane Van Remoortel (eds.) Verslagen van het Centrum voor Genderstudies 2011 (20), Ghent: Academia Press, 2011, p. 27 – 40.
• Rhetoric or Restraint? Trade in military equipment under the EU transfer control system. Ghent: Academia press, 2010, 76p. (ISBN 978 90 382 1693 5).
• “Opgave te Colombia”. In: Francis Baert, Ann Pauwels & Stefaan Smis (eds.), Langs de vuurlijn. De Verenigde Naties en gewapende conflicten. Leuven: ACCO, 2010, p. 87-103.
• (with Philippe de Lombaerde, Geert Haghebaert & Socorro Remirez) “The Impact of EU Conflict Management in Colombia”. In: The European Union and the Global South, Frederik Soderbaum & Patrick Stalgren (eds.). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publisher, 2009, p. 225-248.
• “Arms Brokering Controls in the Americas”. UNIDIR Disarmament Forum – Tackling Illicit Brokering, 2009 n°3, p. 25-34.
• “Kartels, kogels en corruptiebeteugeling – een verhaal van het Zuiden”. In: Orde van de Dag – criminaliteit en samenleving, n° 47, 2009, p. 29-34
• Arms Tracing – Perspectives on control, traffic and use of illegal weapons in Colombia. Bogotá, Fundación Ideas para la Paz, 2009, 46p.
• (edited with Nicolás Urrutia & Miguel Ortega) Rastreo de Armas. Perspectivas sobre control, tráfico y uso de armas ilegales en Colombia. Bogotá, Fundación Ideas para la Paz, 2009, 50p.
• “Strijden en verzoenen in Colombia – weer een cyclus afgewerkt?”. In: Conflict en ontwikkeling. Overleven in de grensgebieden van de globalisering. Ruddy Doom (ed.). Ghent: Academia Press, 2008, p. 515-536.
• “Atividade da sociedade civl relativa ao desarmamento na Europa e no Brasil”. In: Cadernos Instituto Humanitas Universidade do Vale Do Rio Dos Sinos, ano 4 – n° 54 – 2006 – 1679-0316, 28p.
• Wetenschap voor beleid - een communicatieprobleem? Bruxelles: VUB Press, 2000, 310 p.