A Core Group consisting of 15 signatory states and affiliated organizations is responsible for steering the process and guiding the implementation of the Geneva Declaration. In order to advance coordinated, coherent, and complementary interventions that are sensitive to national and local realities and needs, the Core Group encourages a holistic approach that includes diplomatic, practitioner, and academic components.
 

Framework of Implementation

A Framework of Implementation of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development calls for action around three pillars:

1. Advocacy, dissemination, and coordination to raise global awareness about the negative impact of armed violence on development and the obstacle it constitutes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
2. Measurability and monitoring to improve our understanding of the scope, scale, and distribution of armed violence and its negative impact on development.
3. Programming to develop and carry out commitments enshrined in the Geneva Declaration so as to make a measurable difference in the lives of individuals in affected countries and regions through concrete programmes targeting risks and symptoms of armed violence.

 

Core Group Member States

Members are Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Switzerland (Chair), Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
 

Affiliated Organizations

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been involved in the Geneva Declaration process since its beginning in 2006. UNDP's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) is a crucial partner for the activities in all the three pillars.

Small Arms Survey - a Geneva-based research institute - was mandated by the Geneva Declaration Core Group to coordinate national and international efforts to enhance the knowledge about the distribution, causes and consequences of armed violence.

The Geneva Declaration Secretariat collaborates closely with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is actively involved in establishing guidelines on how to prevent and reduce armed violence.

The NGO community forms an integral part of the Geneva Declaration process. The Quaker UN Office (QUNO), which has demonstrated a resolute interest in controlling the demand for and supply of small arms and light weapons, is working to facilitate civil society participation in the Geneva Declaration process through the coordination of the NGO Working Group on Armed Violence and Development.