Focus Projects
Recent Publications
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Small Arms, Armed Violence, and Insecurity in Nigeria: The Niger Delta in Perspective, by Jennifer M. Hazen with Jonas Horner, December 2007. Occasional Paper No. 20
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Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
More information
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La République Centrafricaine: une étude de cas sur les armes légères et les conflits, by Eric G. Berman, with the support of UNDP, July 2006. Special Report No. 6
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Multimedia
Podcast: Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011
Photo Essay: Perilous Lens: Guns in an Urban Landscape
Armed Violence
The Geneva Declaration defines armed violence as ‘the intentional use of illegitimate force (actual or threatened) with arms or explosives, against a person, group, community, or state that undermines people-centred security and/or sustainable development’. Although the incidence of armed conflict has declined in recent years, the number of people killed by armed violence has not. Every year, armed violence kills around 526,000 people, more than three-quarters of whom die in non-conflict settings.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many non-fatal injuries cause significant long-term costs. These include long-term hospitalization, extensive rehabilitation and care, negative impacts on household investments, disruption in social and community relations, and severe gender inequalities.
- Social and Economic Costs
- Conflict Armed Violence
- Non-conflict Armed Violence
- Gender and Armed Violence



