Geneva Declaration on
Armed Violence and Development

The importance of reducing armed violence in order to promote development is not a new idea. When UN Member States adopted the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) in July 2001, references were repeatedly made to the negative impact of small arms and light weapons on sustainable development. A number of countries, international organisations and NGOs identified the relationships between arms-related violence and development as key issues. In this regard, the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom in initiated an Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative (AVPI) in 2003. Academic research centres such as the Geneva based Small Arms Survey and Bradford University produced a growing body of evidence linking the negative impact of violence on development.

The initiatives gathered momentum in 2005. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated in March 2005 that "the accumulation and proliferation of small arms and light weapons continues to be a serious threat to peace, stability and sustainable development". At the Millennium+ 5 World Summit of 2005, Heads of state and government acknowledged that "peace and security, development and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing". In the same year, it was agreed at the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) High Level Meeting of Ministers and Heads of Aid Agencies that official development assistance should also be used for conflict prevention and peace building activities including the fight against small arms proliferation. Furthermore, UNDP and the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated an Armed Violence Prevention Programme (AVPP) aimed at promoting effective responses to armed violence.

Taking into account these various initiatives and its own experience, the Swiss government decided that the time was appropriate to take concrete steps to address issues of armed violence and development. The Swiss Minister of foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey invited Ministers of Foreign Affairs/Development Cooperation to attend a ministerial summit in Geneva on 7 June 2006 in order "to address effectively the global scourge of armed violence, and thereby to enhance the prospects for sustainable development at global, regional and national levels". The ministerial summit, in which 42 states and 17 international organisations and NGOs participated, reflected a strong common political will by both representatives of the donor community and from countries directly affected by armed violence to address the challenge of developing measures to reduce political and criminal armed violence in order to enhance sustainable development at the global, regional and national levels.

The objectives of the summit were:

• to raise global awareness of the negative impact of armed violence on sustainable development;
• to support the work of governments, international organizations and civil society organizations that are committed to reducing armed violence within a development perspective; and
• to strengthen efforts to achieve a measurable reduction in the global burden of armed violence and tangible improvements in human security by 2015.

At the conclusion of the ministerial summit, 42 states adopted the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. Recognizing that the fight against the global scourge of armed violence and the prospects for sustainable development are closely linked, the participants agreed in particular to strengthen their efforts to integrate armed violence reduction and conflict prevention programmes into national, regional and multilateral development frameworks and strategies, as well as into humanitarian assistance, emergency and crisis management initiatives.

Participants to the summit emphasized that the principles and goals of the Geneva Declaration should not remain empty words but be followed by concrete measures. Switzerland proposed to work with a group of interested states, in order to develop the commitments contained in the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development as well as to increase the support for the Declaration and its follow-up activities.