The global burden of armed violence constitutes a major developmental challenge.
Armed violence can erode governance structures, creates a climate of fear, undermines peace initiatives, exacerbates human rights abuses, prevents investment, disrupts markets, and closes schools and clinics. Young men are the most common perpetrators, as well as the most frequent victims, of armed attacks. Yet the impact of armed violence on women and girls is particularly brutal in many conflict zones, as well as in the home; and many boys and girls are denied education through forced enlistment in armed militias and gangs.
When armed violence reaches a chronic level – as it has in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean – it becomes an impediment to sustainable development and threatens the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is no coincidence that two-thirds of the world’s poorest countries – those least likely to achieve the MDGs by 2015 – also experience high levels of armed violence.
Targeting Demand
UNDP works with partners globally to inhibit the demand for arms and target the root causes of armed violence and community insecurity by supporting armed violence prevention and community security programmes. This approach helps communities to tackle the causes and drivers of armed violence and to reduce the demand for weapons while supporting local and national capacities for armed violence prevention and strengthening state-society relationships and trust.
The Geneva Deceleration on Armed Violence and Development
The Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, first signed by 40 states in 2006 at a meeting co-hosted by the Swiss government and UNDP, has helped to coalesce support behind tackling the problem of armed violence and the stifling impact it has on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This broad international consensus helped secure a UN General Assembly resolution and the UN Secretary-General’s report on “Promoting Development through the Reduction and Prevention of Armed Violence” and is focusing attention on the deterrent effect that armed violence has on development. By September 2009, the Geneva Declaration has been signed by 108 states. The Geneva Declaration process is complemented by the OECD-DAC’s efforts to agree on a common approach to guide development actors’ investments in armed violence prevention programmes (read OECD-DAC Report).
NEWS
The global burden of armed violence constitutes a major developmental challenge.
Armed violence can erode governance structures, creates a climate of fear, undermines peace initiatives, exacerbates human rights abuses, prevents investment, disrupts markets, and closes schools and clinics. For more information on UNDP’s work on armed violence prevention and small arms control, see our NEW WORLD MAP
UNDP, Norway pledge to reduce armed violence Oslo, 21 October 2009 — UNDP Administrator Helen Clark met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre today to discuss ways in which Norway and UNDP could work together to reduce armed violence, which kills more than 2,000 people every day worldwide, most of whom are civilians.Read more...
