Richard Moyes

After studying history and then social anthropology at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (1991-1995), I worked for the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) - first as Information Officer and later as Project Coordinator for Kosovo and northern Iraq and then as Project Coordination Manager (1995-2001).

Whilst at MAG I worked with the photographer Sean Sutton looking at the impact of landmines and other unexploded ordnance in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Iraq and Namibia. In 2001 I built on this further with research for Landmine Action on the impact of unexploded ordnance in Kosovo, Ethiopia and Cambodia.

In 2002 I returned to MAG to set up and then manage a field programme in northern Sri Lanka, surveying minefields and removing unexploded ordnance. In 2004 I moved to Cambodia to work on a joint project with MAG, Handicap International and Norwegian People's Aid looking at deliberate handling of unexploded ordnance amongst rural populations.

In 2005 I returned to the UK and took up a policy role with Landmine Action (later AOAV) that was to continue through to 2010. In this position I researched the impact of anti-vehicle mines and worked on the development of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (coordinating strategy and negotiating on definitions for the Cluster Munition Coalition) and the 2010 Oslo Commitments on Armed Violence.

During that period I also developed policy thinking around the category of explosive weapons and in particular the humanitarian impact of explosive weapons when used in populated areas. This theme is now a focus of my work as one of the Coordinators of the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) where I work in partnership with Thomas Nash. Also with Thomas, I work on a range of other weapons issues through our UK NGO Article 36, including work towards a prohibition on nuclear weapons, a comittment by states to record every casualty of armed violence, and better standards for the review of new weapons.