To date the Geneva Declaration has been adopted formally by 108 states, Luxemburg being the latest country to sign up. Commitment to the Geneva Declaration requires states to subscribe to measurable reductions in armed violence by 2015. It also means that states are expected to be transparent and open about the character and severity of armed violence within their borders.

Accra Declaration links MDG progress with armed violence prevention

Representatives of crisis-affected countries, including representative of the G7+, gathered for a UNDP workshop on “Achieving the MDGs in a Context of Crisis” in Accra, Ghana on 19-20 July 2010. The meeting, attended by Ministers and senior officials from 12 developing countries affected by conflict and armed violence, reflected on the opportunities for, and obstacles to, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in countries affected by conflict, armed violence and fragility, and natural disasters.

The participating states agreed to the Accra Declaration which outlines the current situation in dire terms:

"We acknowledge that crises and the resulting disruption to economic growth and livelihoods, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, depletion of development assets and capacities, and the breakdown of the rule of law, justice and security are a major threat, not only to making new progress towards the MDGs, but even to the sustenance and consolidation of the hard-won gains towards the MDGs. Indeed, countries affected by violent conflict, armed violence, fragility and high vulnerability to disaster will find it extremely difficult to fully achieve the MDGs by 2015, as recognized in the Dili Declaration." (The Dili Declaration was reviewed in the last GD Newsletter.)

The final Accra text calls for a focused and accelerated effort to achieve the MDGs in countries affected by conflict, fragility, armed violence and disasters and it recommends 11 steps to be taken by affected states and their international partners. Encouragingly, the declaration includes a number of references to armed violence prevention. See the full Accra Declaration text.

In addition the participants also reviewed the latest version of the draft MDG Review Summit Outcome Document and stressed the importance of strengthening the action section of the document (This is similar to the focus emphasized by civil society actions—see the related article below).

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Armed Violence and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Responding to an agenda shared by concerned states, civil society and UN agencies, a group of engaged NGOs, including Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), have been advocating the need to promote a more explicit focus on measurable reductions in armed violence in strategies and programs agreed through the MDG Review Summit in September 2010. The problem of armed violence as an important cross-cutting factor impeding achievement of the MDGs has already been recognized internationally in several global documents and the MDG Outcome Document that will be adopted during the Summit in New York should reflect this growing commitment.

In particular, NGOs have called on states to actively support the insertion of language reflecting the distinct problem of armed violence in the Outcome Document, recognizing the need for action to reduce and prevent armed violence as a key input to development progress and improved MDG performance. The impact of armed violence on the MDGs is now clearly acknowledged through an entire paragraph in the preamble of the document. In addition, states committed to this agenda have been encouraged to actively support the insertion of corresponding language in the Outcome Document’s action plan as well. The new suggested text would read:

"We recognize that national development plans and policies in countries affected by armed conflict, and armed violence more broadly, should aim to reduce the potential impact of conflict and violence on the achievement of the MDGs. We encourage countries to develop plans, with appropriate targets and indicators, to prevent conflict and reduce armed violence and we request donor countries to consider providing adequate, timely and predictable development assistance in support of these plans, tailored to country specific situations." [Emphasis added.]

Several countries have responded positively to the efforts to promote this text. Civil society proponents believe that the revised language will be included in the action plan, if it is vocally supported by states during the final phase of the negotiations which began at end of August. See the MDG Summit web site.

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New UN Special Representative for sexual violence in conflict

Margot Wallström has been appointed as the new United Nations Special Representative for sexual violence in conflict, as requested in Security Council Resolution 1888 on Women, Peace and Security. The new Special Representative has the potential to ensure the UN is more effective in working against rape in war and in addressing its causes, including discrimination against women, the myths that fuel sexual violence and the availability of the weapons that facilitate it. Source article.

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UN Commission examines situation of young women and girls in armed conflict

To be a teenager and female is bad enough in the midst of a war zone, but it is often little better when the guns fall silent. Caught in a sort of limbo between childhood and adulthood, when it comes to peace and reconciliation, former girl combatants are often treated as invisible, advocates say. "The most complex challenges faced by young women and girls are often encountered in the reintegration phase, a phase which has the least amount of funding and is socially very complex," says Stephanie Ziebell, a former analyst on governance, peace and security issues at the UN Fund for Women. See the news article.

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A central pillar of solid advocacy and programming is evidence. Good evidence is based on solid research. The Geneva Declaration process is committed to supporting national and local-level research to inform interventions, but also to promote awareness and understanding of the risks and dangers posed by armed violence and underdevelopment. The following are examples of innovative and path-breaking research that shed light on the interconnections of armed violence and development.

Caribbean Conference: Importance of Measurability

"Nobody is naive enough to think if you banned guns tomorrow violence would disappear. You need a justice system that responds appropriately, support from the police—enforcement and justice that's fair and equitable. There is a saying that what gets measured gets done and if you’re not tracking what’s happening with the guns, not tracking where the guns are coming from, not tracking how many women are being threatened by guns, how many people are being killed by guns, there’s not much that can be done." This is the advice from Professor Wendy Cukier, President of the Coalition of Gun Control in Canada, as quoted in "Women have a role in ending gun violence," Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday, April 26, 2009. For a full report on the related project see "Empowering Women and Girls to Prevent and Address the Impact of Small Arms in Communities across Trinidad and Tobago" on the WINAD website.

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India: Domestic violence in Nagaland

"A study by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that domestic violence by an intimate partner is the most common form of violence in women's lives- much more than assault and rape by strangers and acquaintances.…Over the past few decades, gender based trauma has emerged as one of the most serious public health problems facing women in this country.…The government should recognize that family killings are the only category of homicide in which women outnumber men as victims, and pledge to protect women in their homes. More initiative towards recognizing and rehabilitating the victims is needed, starting with provisions of basic psychological counseling services which are very rare in the present public health system of the state." (Elizabeth Imti in the Morung Express (Nagaland, Northeast India) website, 8 October 2009.)

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Guatemala: Climate of insecurity prompts women to carry guns

The perception of increased insecurity in Guatemala is forcing women to arm themselves to protect themselves and their families, the Central American nation's state newspaper, Diario de Centroamerica, reported Monday. The official newspaper said an increasing number of women of different professions are acquiring weapons and registering them with Guatemala's Arms and Munitions Control Office. Source article (Tico Times, Costa Rica, 11 February 2010)

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Exploring Dimensions of Masculinity and Violence

Working toward the reduction and elimination of gender-based violence, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW partnered with CARE Balkans and CARE International to implement a groundbreaking participatory research program working directly with young men in the Balkans between the ages of 13 and 19 to deconstruct masculinity in their cultures and determine how gender norms and male socialization lead to inequitable attitudes and behaviors toward women and girls. “For most of the young men who participated in the PLA, this was the first time that they had to openly discuss and critically reflect on masculinity and violence with their peers. The young men engaged in serious reflection to consider their influences, attitudes and hopes, listened intently to each others’ ideas, debated different points of views, and shared a range of reactions spanning laughter, embarrassment and concern as they articulated their ideas about masculinity. See the ICRW website.

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The Geneva Declaration process encourages all UN member states and NGOs to adopt a proactive and comprehensive approach to armed violence prevention and reduction on the ground. Fortunately, there are literally thousands of efforts underway around the world that aim to reduce violence. Many of these explicitly draw on “developmental” approaches to day-to-day violence. The selection included below only scrape the surface of what is going on every day in affected communities. To encourage learning and to improve practice, the Geneva Declaration Core Group is supporting a number of “focus countries” plan, design, implement and evaluate violence reduction activities. Information on these activities is available at the Geneva Declaration website.

International: Men, Masculinities and Peacebuilding

Gender lies at the root of war and peace and it is increasingly being recognized that issues of masculinities need to be addressed in the field of peacebuilding and active nonviolence. In order to transform cultures of war and violence, women peace activists need to work together with male allies on these issues. This year, the celebration of the International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament (May 24) celebration took place on May 27, 2010 in The Hague. Approximately 60 people attended the expert meeting “Together for Transformation” to discuss the relevance of including a masculinities perspective in debates about gender and peacebuilding and the contributions men can make in relation to the topic of women, peace and security. For a report and descriptions of other related programmes see the website of the Women Peacemakers Program.

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International: Gender-sensitive active non-violence training

19 men from 17 countries in Central America, Africa, Asia and Europe participated in a training of trainers (ToT) on “Gender-Sensitive Active Non-Violence Training: Exploring Masculinities, Violence and Peacebuilding” in Manila, Philippines from 1-16 July 2010. The Women's Peacemakers Program (WPP) of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation organised the event, which was part of a programme launched in 2009. Topics at the event included UN Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security; and the national action plan of the Philippines to implement these resolutions. A manual building on the lessons from the trainings will be published later in 2010. WPP website.

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Kenya: Women’s inventory and action on firearms

Women in Wajir (Kenya) are celebrating a major victory as the local government has agreed to share information about their small arms inventory and mark over 9,000 weapons. Women have also been invited to join a committee that will lead programmes raising awareness on small arms control. The decision came after 100 pastoralist women submitted a petition and a regional plan on firearms control to the government on 8 April. The plan also lists local arms markets, smuggling routes and arms traffickers. This initiative is being coordinated by Frontier Indigenous Network. More information is at the Third Side website.

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Uganda: Woman ex-combatant re-settles child soldiers

Grace Arach has seen tough times -- abducted by rebels, raped, coerced into marriage, forced to kill, until she said: "Enough is enough." The 23-year-old escaped from the captivity of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group that has abducted massacred and maimed people in northern Uganda for 20 years. Through Children/Youth Peace Builders (CAP), a local advocacy community organization, Arach is teaching her community how to treat the former child abductees, help the reintegrate into society and learn their responsibility towards the community. With a team of 90 youth, she has trained former child soldiers in vocational skills to generate income and also learn how to live in society positively. See the news article.

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India: Helping boys and young men see females as equals

These days, Rajesh Jadhav has the confidence to speak out against mistreating women and girls. Sometimes, he even intervenes to stop it. As a participant in the Parivartan program, Rajesh has become an ambassador of sorts, preaching to his peers that women shouldn’t be controlled, and that men need to learn how to handle problems without using violence. Modeled in part after the US-based Family Violence Prevention Fund's “Coaching Boys Into Men” program, Parivartan (which means “change for the better”) helps boys and young men see women and girls as equals, and treat them respectfully. The program attracts participants through the popular sport of cricket. Rajesh serves as a Parivartan mentor to a cricket team of 10- to 16-year-olds. Through a series of workshops, Rajesh is learning how to pass on the messages of Parivartan to young cricketers. A set of 12 training cards offers some guidance. Each card addresses a certain subject, provides sample language to spur a discussion, questions for players and guidance on how to wrap up discussions. See the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) website.

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Canada: Campaign seeks to end family violence

A new public awareness campaign launched recently in Miramichi aims to put the proper information and resources into the hands of families suffering from violence in the home. The bilingual campaign, entitled Safer Families... Safer Communities, consists of various fact sheets, resource cards, posters, and magnets, which feature warning signs of potential abuse, as well as action strategies on how to curb family violence. The program is rooted in a recent study conducted by the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research, which suggests there is a strong link between family violence, the use of firearms, and animal abuse as a means of intimidation. The study was funded entirely by the Canada Firearms Centre. News article: Times and Transcript, New Brunswick, Canada, February 21st, 2009. The campaign on family violence was based on research in New Brunswick. For background see the presentation by Deborah Doherty (click on “Dr. Deborah Doherty-Prevention of Domestic Homicide in Rural Communities”) at the website for the 2nd Annual Canadian Domestic Violence Prevention Conference.

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Sudan: Course on sexual and gender-based violence for peacekeeping police

For the first time, the Canadian-based Pearson Peacekeeping Centre is in Sudan delivering a course on sexual and gender-based violence to United Nations female police officers who have been deployed into the Darfur (UNAMID) and Sudan (UNMIS) missions. Held in Khartoum, the course trains these women officers with police investigation skills that will help them prevent and deal with crimes of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against women and children. See the blog at the Pearson Centre website.

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For more publications, also consult the Geneva Declaration website.

‘Como te haces entender?’: Gender and Gun Cultures in the Caribbean Context

The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) has released ‘Como te haces entender?’: Gender and Gun Cultures in the Caribbean Context, which addresses the research gap in social constructions of gun ownership and gun abuse through its engendered study of gun cultures in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. This paper examines the extent at which gun violence has affected Caribbean societies, at cultural and gender norms as well as socio-economic conditions which determine gun ownership and use and policy responses to the issue, including gender mainstreaming in security sector reform processes and civil society initiatives. The focus is on more urbanized societies in the Caribbean region, with a special focus on gun violence and responses in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. See the report.

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Brazil: Violence in female experience

The new book “Invisible Faces of Armed Violence” presents the voices of girls and women from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who suffer the effects or become involved in gun violence. It documents the different roles girls and women play in contexts of armed violence and the ways in which they organize themselves to resist and prevent it. The book was published Viva Rio (Brazil) and the Peace Studies Group/CES, University of Coimbra (Portugal). Download the book in English or in Portuguese.

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Sexed Pistols: The Gendered Impacts of Small Arms and Light Weapons

(UNU Press, 2009) This book, edited by Vanessa Farr, Henri Myrttinen and Albrecht Schnabel, draws on experience and research from around the world on the nexus of gender, age, violence and small arms in developing and developed countries. The text examines the connection between guns and gender and discusses methodological challenges and priorities in gendered small-arms research, policy and advocacy. In the authors’ view stereotypes have to give way to an understanding of the multiple roles of both small-arms users and victims, as gender is only one among many social categories defining individuals' approaches to and experience of small-arms violence. The contributors' findings feed into a number of recommendations for future policy formulation, programme implementation and research designed to further illuminate and counteract the firing of the “sexed pistol”. For more information or to purchase a copy, see the UNU website.

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Mainstreaming gender for the effective implementation of the UN PoA: Update of the 2006 CASA Guidelines

Eliminating the violence related to small arms and light weapons requires the participation of all: men as well as women. With these guidelines the co-publishers, UN Office for Disarment Affairs (UNODA) and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) wanted to contribute further to the understanding of the significance of the different roles played by men, women, boys and girls both as part of the small arms proliferation problem and in finding solutions to it. The guidelines will help practitioners identify concrete ways of mainstreaming gender perspectives in all relevant initiatives and operations, and at all stages, from information gathering and planning to implementation, monitoring and evaluation, This updated version is based on wide field experience and takes into account new developments, progress made and lessons learnt in the implementation of the UN Programme of Action on small arms, as well as in gender mainstreaming in peace and security. View the document.

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Young female combatants in African wars

Published by the Nordic Africa Institute, this policy dialogue argues that to improve policy and programming efforts it is necessary to broaden the understanding of young women’s roles and participation in armed conflict in Africa historically and today. The intention is to provide policy makers and aid practitioners with a state-of-the-art overview of the situation for young women in African war and post-war situations. Download via the webpage.

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Breaking the Silence

This is a quarterly bulletin that covers information on the issues of women in democratic governance and violence against women in politics (VAWIP) from six countries of South Asia- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This bulletin is an initiative to raise the issue of violence against women in politics, not only at national level but also at regional and international levels to nudge stakeholders into taking corrective actions. See the website.

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Newsletter on Gender, Peace and Security

The latest edition of PRIO's Gender, Peace and Security Update for May-June 2010 is now available. (PRIO is The International Peace Research Institute, Oslo.) This electronic newsletter was launched by PRIO’s Gender Team in response to growing interest among the public for information about women, peace and security issues. The newsletter will keep readers informed of the latest developments both internationally and in Norway in relation to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security and subsequent resolutions. See the news item.

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New Video Documentary: Faces of Violence: A Non-Fiction Story

Armed violence is hard to define but easy to recognize. The short documentary Faces of Violence: A Non-Fiction Story examines the many dimensions of violence and its implications for the development sector. In focusing on key risk factors and impacts of armed violence, it shows how it is fundamentally a development challenge. Faces of Violence features the stories of a former drug trafficker from Brazil and an ex-combatant from war-torn Southern Sudan. It highlights how both were once perpetrators of violence, then victims and ultimately, part of the solution to achieving lasting peace in their communities. Faces of Violence is a reminder of the poignant human stories behind the statistics, and a call to action for development practitioners around the world. View the video.

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Need for More information: Do you want to share information about activities that are ongoing in your country? Do you have any relevant publications that show the connections between armed violence prevention and reduction with development? If you have some information about successful projects—previous or ongoing—that you think would be relevant, please share them with our readers. To contact the editor, send an email to newsletter@genevadeclaration.org.

This newsletter is edited and distributed by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva in order to build awareness on issues relating to development and armed violence and to increase engagement with the Geneva Declaration process. QUNO is mandated by the Geneva Declaration Core Group of states to inform civil society about the Geneva Declaration process.