UCDP One-sided Violence Codebook
Version 1.4 – August, 2012
Uppsala Conflict Data Program
Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University

This version compiled and updated by Therése Pettersson (2012)
Replacing the earlier versions by Joakim Kreutz (2008)
and Joakim Kreutz & Kristine Eck (2005)

Citation for the dataset:
Eck, Kristine and Lisa Hultman, 2007. ‘One-sided violence against civilians in war: insightsfrom new fatality data´, Journal of Peace Research 44(2): 233-246.
(When appropriate) also cite this codebook. Always include the Version number in analyses
using the dataset.

Introduction
This document describes the One-sided Violence Dataset, a project within the Uppsala
Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research,
Uppsala University. The UCDP One-sided violence project has been developed withsupport from the Human Security Report Project, Simon Fraser University, in
Vancouver, Canada.
Case-specific information about the cases of one-sided violence is available atwww.ucdp.uu.se/database. Questions regarding the definitions and the content of thedataset can be directed to Therese.Pettersson@pcr.uu.se

Definition of One-sided violenceOne-sided violence is the use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formallyorganized group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths. Extrajudicial killings incustody are excluded.
The separate elements of the definition are operationalized as follows:(1) Use of armed force: use of arms in order to exert violent force, resulting in death(1.1) Arms: any material means, e.g. manufactured weapons but also sticks, stones,fire, water, etc(2) 25 deaths: a minimum of 25 civilian deaths per year and per actor(3) Government: the party controlling the capital of the state(4) Formally organized group: any non-governmental group of people having announced
a name for their group and using armed force(5) State: a state is(5.1) an internationally recognized sovereign government controlling a specified territory,or(5.2) an internationally unrecognized government controlling a specified territory whosesovereignty is not disputed by another internationally recognized sovereign government
previously controlling the same territory.
(6) Extrajudicial killings in custody: when the government of a state kills a person in its custody(5.1) custody: when the person is located in a prison or another type of governmental
facilityVariables in the One-sided violence dataset
Actor ID. For some purposes it may be necessary to follow the same actor which is responsible
for one-sided violence during several years. Thus, each actor recorded in the dataset is given aunique Actor ID, taken from the UCDP Actor Dataset (Pettersson & Themnér, 2012). For onesided violence with multiple actors fighting together a temporary coalition ID has been assigned.
Coalition IDs start with 5, followed by the GWNo for the country and a counter. A list ofcoalition IDs can be found below.
Coalition components. For one-sided violence with multiple actors fighting together, the actors’
separate Actor IDs, taken from the UCDP Actor Dataset, are listed in this variable and separated
by a comma.
Actor. The government of a state or the name used by a formally organized group according to
the UCDP one-sided violence definition.
Year. The calendar year of observation. UCDP employs a threshold for inclusion of at least 25
deaths caused by one-sided violence for each actor in a calendar year. There are cases whenactors are responsible for one-sided violence of a scale that does not meet the threshold.
These observations are coded as absence of one-sided violence.
Best, Low and High fatality estimates.
The general rule for UCDP’s estimation of one-sided violence is moderation. All incidents haveto be verified in one way or another, and all estimates reported are based on UCDP expertise ofeach particular conflict. As a general rule, all figures are disaggregated as far as possible and anyfigures that are not trustworthy are disregarded in the coding process. Due to the great
uncertainty of reports from conflict areas, the project provides three estimates concerning battlerelated deaths for each year.
(a) Best estimate. The UCDP Best estimate consist of the aggregated most reliable
numbers for all incidents of one-sided violence during a year. If different reports provide
different estimates, an examination is made as to what source is most reliable.
If no such distinction can be made, UCDP as a rule include the lower figure given.
(b) Low estimate. The UCDP Low estimate consists of the aggregated low estimates for
all incidents of one-sided violence during a year. If different reports provide different
estimates and a higher estimate is considered more reliable, the low estimate is also
reported if deemed reasonable.
(c) High estimate. The UCDP High estimate consists of the aggregated high estimates for
all incidents of one-sided violence during a year. If different reports provide different
estimates and a lower estimate is considered more or equally reliable, the high estimate isalso reported if deemed reasonable. If there are incidents when there is some uncertainty
about what party have been involved, these may also be included in the high estimate.

Government Actor. For some purposes it may be necessary to disaggregate between
government and non-governmental actors in the dataset. This variable records if the actor is thegovernment of a state.
Location. The geographical country/countries where the one-sided violence is observed in agiven year. Location is a string variable, listing all countries in which the actor is active inalphabetical order. More detailed information about the location for each actor is available in theUCDP database www.ucdp.uu.se/database.
GWNOLoc. This field contains the country code(s) for the state(s) listed in the Location
variable. Thus, it lists the country codes for the primary party/parties in the conflict.
GWNoloc is a string variable, where the numbers are separated by a comma (‘,’).
Region. Region of location.
1 Europe
2 Middle East
3 Asia4 Africa
5 Americas
Version. The version number of the dataset.

IDs for temporary coalitions
ActorsActor IDs

Temporary coalition
IDSerbian Rebublic of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbian
irregulars

1182, 1214

534601

FAPC, FNI

1457, 1460

549015

FNI, FRPI

1460, 1961

549003

FNI, FRPI, RCD-K-ML

1460, 1961,
1650

549002

RCD–N, MLC

1511, 1269

549001

RCD–N, MLC, UPC

1511, 1269,
1960

549007

RCD-K-ML, FRPI

1650, 1961

549004MAGRIVI, Interahamwe

1927, 1478

549017