An Armed Violence and Development Seminar took place between 20 and 23 April 2009 with support from the Spanish International Cooperation Agency's International Training Centre in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. The seminar was co-organized by the UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and the UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC) with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

The seminar gathered representatives from the member states of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, as well as representatives from UN agencies and NGOs. Based on the commitment contained within both the Geneva and Guatemala Declarations on Armed Violence and Development, the aim of the seminar was to understand the different forms of armed violence and their multiple causes and contexts and to share and develop strategies to prevent and reduce armed violence in order to promote sustainable development.