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.

UN Addresses the Secretary-General's Report on AVD

The Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN, Peter Maurer, spoke to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Nov. 16, 2009 on behalf of the Geneva Declaration Core Group. He noted that the report of the Secretary-General signaled the way armed violence constituted not just a humanitarian challenge, but also an obstacle to development, and ultimately, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He highlighted how the Core Group believes that enhancing and strengthening support for human development is key to preventing and reducing armed violence. The Core Group is initiating an open process to help shape a possible UNGA resolution during the current session and in preparation for the UNGA’s High Level session on the MDGs in September 2010. The Core Group also organized a side-event on 16 November that attracted an audience of more than 90 members of the UN family. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2009/ga10888.doc.htm

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IPPNW Paper Advocates a Public Health Approach to Armed Violence Reduction

During a side event at the UNGA on 16 November, 2009 the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) released a special policy paper addressed to the UN Secretary-General and member states. The paper “Prescriptions for Prevention: A Public Health and Human-Centered Approach to Reducing Armed Violence and Promoting Health and Development” highlights the consequences of armed violence and seeks to assist governments in gauging feasible policy and programming options. It recommends that states incorporate public health strategies into their national action plans. It also encourages states to more fully take account of the views and interests of ministries of health, other government agencies and civil society sectors including medical and public health organizations in the development of intervention strategies. For more information contact Maria Valenti, coordinator, Aiming for Prevention program, IPPNW mvalenti@ippnw.org.

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Armed Violence Reduction Presentation at Landmines Conference

The Philippines, Norway and Switzerland organized a side-event on December 3 at the Second Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention in Cartagena, Colombia. Speakers at the panel presentation, entitled “The Ottawa-Convention and Armed Violence & Development,” introduced the Geneva Declaration process and upcoming conferences planned for Oslo and Manila in the coming year. The event was designed to familiarize delegates with the Armed Violence and Development (AVD) process and to highlight the common thrusts and aims of the Mine Ban Convention and AVD work. In addition, it aimed to create synergies between and among landmine and AVD experts and advocates, with a view towards helping to establish a broader global community of practice for disarmament and humanitarian action. The presenters included voices from the three sponsoring governments, UNDP and civil society (Danish Demining Group, Action on Armed Violence and Nonviolence International).

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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.

Workshop on Metrics of Armed Violence

UNDP, in collaboration with the Geneva Declaration Secretariat, hosted an expert workshop on indicators of armed violence in Geneva on 14-15 December 2009. The workshop brought together leading experts in the fields of public health, social policy, economics and criminology in order to review indicators related to armed violence. One goal of the workshop was to review a preliminary set of goals, targets and indicators on armed violence. Another was to reflect on the needs, challenges and opportunities for developing a methodologically robust system to track armed violence world-wide, and to link armed violence metrics to the goals, targets and indicators elaborated as part of the MDGs.

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Timor-Leste Armed Violence Assessment

ActionAid and the Small Arms Survey are cooperating on a project to identify concrete policy-relevant entry points to prevent and reduce real and perceived armed violence in Timor-Leste. Undertaken since mid.2008, the AusAID-supported Timor-Leste Armed Violence Assessment (www.timorlesteviolence.org) established serves as a clearing house for information and analysis on violence-related issues. The project works closely with representatives of the Timorese government, civil society and their partners to identify appropriate priorities and practical strategies to prevent violence and enhance local capacities. Recently published reports include: Issue Brief 5: After the guns fall silent: sexual and gender-based violence in Timor-Leste; Issue Brief 4: Tracking violence in Timor-Leste: A sample of emergency room data, 2006-08; and Handle with Care: Private Security Companies in Timor-Leste, East Timor Law Journal All publications are available in English, Tetum and Bahasa languages.

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New Guinea: Public Health Research on Armed Violence

For over a decade health professionals connected with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) have been conducting research on injuries from armed violence as part of its Aiming for Prevention program. For example, a review of the public health consequences of tribal wars in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) showed, among other findings, that gunshot wounds on average resulted in 24.5 days in hospital, with 15 days spent in the surgical ward, significantly longer than knife (8 days) or arrow injuries (7 days) It is hoped that this collection of basic data will contribute to civil society campaigns such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence PNG and longer term efforts to reduce armed violence and increase security at the local level (such as the Oxfam programme in PNG described below in the Publications section). More on the Aiming for Prevention Programme >>

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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.

Croatia: UNDP integrated approach to arms control, violence prevention and community development

The Croatian government, in partnership with UNDP and with the support of several donors, is implementing a 3-year program that takes an integrated approach to armed violence and development. This three-pronged approach includes work on arms control, violence prevention and community security, thus bridging several UNDP portfolios and four government ministries. Tackling the problem of armed criminal violence, and the problems of social exclusion and firearms availability that underlie it, the UNDP programme in Croatia carries out a range of interventions, including collecting and destroying illegal weapons, supporting women’s and veteran’s groups and setting up community policing and local violence prevention councils. This has resulted not only in the removal of nearly 20,000 illegal weapons, but also in improved perceptions of security, and a 50% increase in dialogue between young people and the police. Download programme information here.

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Latin America: Small Grant Program for Violence Prevention

Through a World Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program Trust Fund this funding programme is intended to build community and government capacity and find effective ways to prevent urban crime and violence. The programme, which began in the 1990s, supports the development of innovative ideas and strategies in the field of community municipal-based crime and violence prevention through early seed funding. Eligible projects should be innovative, have a preventive approach and promote empowerment and ownership of the most vulnerable local communities through their active participation in project decision-making and implementation. The projects should serve as learning experiences for lessons learned and potential best practices. Eligible participants are local governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), private sector groups working in partnership with civil society organizations, individuals, universities and schools. By August 2009 a total of 11 projects have been selected in Honduras and Nicaragua as part of a regional pilot program. Find more information here.

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Lebanon: Officials Study Community Policing Practices

Six senior officials from the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) travelled to the USA for a two-week visit to study community policing practices in the United States. During the visit, which was sponsored by the American government, the delegation traveled to Chicago, Illinois; Reno, Nevada; and San Diego, California to meet with police executives to gain operational insight into American community policing. The police departments in these cities have been identified as among the best examples of community policing at work, a law-enforcement philosophy whereby the police and the citizens they protect and serve work closely together to identify and solve problems of mutual concern. This approach to policing is fairly common in North America, but largely untried in the Middle East, where public distrust of the police is one of a number of factors driving the civilian demand for weapons. Beirut Daily Star, Wednesday, November 04, 2009 Download.

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For more publications, also consult the Geneva Declaration website.

Understanding Violence: The Role of Injury Surveillance Systems in Africa

Produced by the Geneva Declaration Secretariat, this working paper applies a public health approach to engaging with injury prevention and identifies several public health methods for collecting data pertinent to violence control. The paper documents findings from a multinational project undertaken in 2007-2009 in five African countries (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia). This pilot project involved the creation of an injury surveillance system in five hospitals, one in each country. The analysis of the project offers valuable insight into what is required in order to successfully implement and sustain a hospital-based injury surveillance system under challenging circumstances. This paper is designed for a broad audience interested in armed violence prevention and reduction and it specifically speaks to African decision-makers, development practitioners, and medical professionals. See the full report.

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Addressing Armed Violence in East Africa: A Report on World Vision Peacebuilding, Development and Humanitarian Assistance Programmes

Project Ploughshares and World Vision Canada published this report based on 2008 field research in East Africa on armed violence reduction and World Vision peacebuilding and development activities in selected parts of Kenya, Uganda and Sudan. The project was formed on the basis of prior commitments in both organizations to contribute to the growing body of evidence-based research documenting the important link between reducing armed violence and increased effectiveness of peacebuilding, development and humanitarian relief programming. This study is a contribution to field-based evidence to advance best practices in reducing armed violence, but the recommendations extend far beyond that to the roles of donors and other institutions. This study also marks one of the first times that the new OECD-DAC “armed violence lens” has been applied in practice to a specific situation. The lens was endorsed by all members of the OECD-DAC and is now being tested out by the Advisory Group The full East Africa report is available here.

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Armed Violence and the Links to Human Security in Papua New Guinea

This is a short, focused policy paper based on solid field experience. As the text itself explains: “Oxfam International PNG is taking an integrated approach to promote peaceful development and reduce armed violence in the Highlands. The peacebuilding agenda is much broader than simply preventing or ending conflict. Oxfam is working to address the key structural causes of armed violence and insecurity, in different law and order environments, and the relationship to other types of violence. A multidimensional strategy underlies this approach: capacity building with local non-government organizations working to reduce violence; livelihoods activities in support of the identified needs of partners; research and advocacy; and creating a knowledge base for modeling appropriate Highlands-based approaches to security and violence reduction.” An Oxfam New Zealand Position Paper, February 11, 2009.

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From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The Role of Natural Resources and Environment

This report inaugurates a new policy series by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the environmental dimensions of disasters and conflicts. It aims to summarize the latest knowledge and field experience on the linkages between environment, conflict and peacebuilding. In addition it demonstrates the need for those linkages to be addressed in a more coherent and systematic way by the UN, Member States and other stakeholders. Many of the short case studies focus on states where armed violence and development programmes are underway or possible. The text is a useful catalyst for new thinking on ways to connect armed violence reduction with environmental concerns and opportunities. Download the report.

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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.