‘02/02/2021 Disaggregating lethal armed violence - Reinventing PeaceReinventing Peace WORLD ata REINVENTING PEACE} pai « no Disaggregating lethal armed violence by ROBERT MUGCAH on MARCH 26, 2012 advocacy Africa African Union Armed violence ean exhibit multiple forms. Whether in the context of conflicts or insurgencies, or of gang violence and arms trade killings associated with drug trafficking, hundreds of thousands of people suffer injuries or lose their lives each year. atrocities av Countless others ere forced to flee from their homes and communities. Still more must enéue various forms of violence book review Bosnia Inside the home, Many trageies—from epidemics to natural disasters—ill people. But violence is distnet in that it entails confet data Corrupt the deliberate harming of fellow human beings. Tis concept note considers a numberof recurring characteristic of Covid-19 nasser sant contemporary armed violence. Tt focuses on the multiple, simultaneous, and shifting motivations of perpetrators, and the ‘owions Employee ¢ Tinks between diferent forms of violence It ealls for an analytical approach that moves beyond simplistic labels and policy the month triven responses. Such an approach would need to develop new ways of understanding the relationships berwoon what were Ethiopia famin previously held tobe dstnet forms of armed violence ‘orsign ply gender Deconstructing armed violence enocide Gil Ams Boson uman rights Conventional analyses often compartmentalize armed violence nto distinc eategories according to a particular context oF ‘memorial intervention underlying intentions ofthe perpetrator. The two most common distinctions are drawn between organized ulective) and Iraq justice Libya interpersonal individual violence, and between confi (politely motivated) and criminal (economically motivated) mediation violence. These ditinetons ae intended to capture the level of organization and the motivations shaping violent cs ‘memorialization Governments, muilateral agencies, non-governmental organizations, and research institutes around the word se these raion NEW Wars, categoria oases verl level of rime and violence oro plan volenefntervenion programmes and plies Yetthexe peace politica Aisnetions gv the iteadig impression tht diferent forms nd indent of violence Minto neat and weparate categorie. Marketplace ‘Saudi Arabia Somali avin South Sudan Sudan Syria UK uw US High levels of gang violence in Guatemala or Honduras, vigilant justice in postwar and fragile states such as iberia or ‘Timor-Leste, post~ection violence in Cte dToire or Kenya, and high Ievels of urban crime in etes such as Kingston or Rio de Janeiro underline how the ines between armed conflict and criminal violence are increesngly blurred, In Iraq since 2003, for example the targeting of non-combatants by insurgent, militias, and sectarian groups may seem chaotic or random, yet a loser inspection of underlying patterns of wolence suggests that seemingly arbitrary or eriminal violence may also serve politcal purposes in line with the goals of armed groups. {In many places, non-conflict violence i linked to highly organized criminal activity, orto different forms of ‘political violence’, cither targeting politica opponents or government officials (auch as mayors, teachers, police officers, or journalists), oF secking to influence and modify government policies through corruption and use of force. Ia these contexts, the label ‘nomicide'—which implies ostensibly apolitical interpersonal and criminal violence —is potentially misleading, As the figure below reveals itis possible to decompose broad eategores of collective and interpersonal ~as well as cotiet and non: confit violence ~ into a host of overlapping categories Figure 1. Decomposing armed violence hitpsstes ft edureinventingpeacel2012103/26icisaggregating ethal-armed-vilence! “4‘02/02/2021 Disaggregating lethal armed violence - Reinventing PeaceReinventing Peace cms ene “The violent activities of organized criminal groupe frequently have broader political consequences, even if their main motivation remains rent-seeking. Criminal activities such as trafficking in drugs or othe leg] goods have also been used to Finance war efforts in plaes such as Aghanistan, Bosnia an Herzegovina, Colombia, and Liberia, The operations of organized crime groupe, and especially the trafficking flict narcotics are frequently accompanied by high levels of viotene. Such groups have shown an extraordinary capacity fr blurring the boundaries between criminal and political types of Violence, as evidenced by the drug wars in Mexico and the rest of Central America, the Caribbean, and eertain Andean countries, Drug cartels are locked in battle for control over te flow of nareoties while governments in countries across these regions have mobilized their armies to boos altering war on drugs ici taficking of drugs is increasingly recognized asa ‘heat to international, regional, and national security, as wells public safety. Assessing the global burden ‘The intensity and organization of violent killings provides a eriical indicator ofa state's—and its population’s—relative ‘insecurity. From a satstial perspective violent deaths tend to be more systematically recorded than other crimes and ‘human rights violations, Baed on data on lethal violence from established administrative sources in the eiminal justice, health, and confit studies sectors. The 2011 Global Burden of Armed Violence report detests that $26,000 people died violently per year between 2004 and 2009, The estimate includes civilian conilet deaths, batle deaths, and vilims of ‘terrorism (combined as direct confit deaths), intentional and unintentional homicide, and legal interventions in non-conflict settings Figure DIRECT CONFLICT DEATHS pore rs $= = eis peer eons) While war easuatis are frequent featured in media headlines, their actual number is far lower than that of victims ile in ‘many ostensibly nnconiiet countries. Roughly three-quarters of ll violent deaths are the result of intentions! homicide, while approximately 0 percent are direct contlet deaths. This translates nto 396,000 intentional homicide vetims and 55,000 direct conflict deaths per your. An estimated 54,000 additional people (more than 10 percent of all violet deaths) die Violently asa result of unintentional homicide. The remaining category—Xilings during legal interventions account for at least 23,000 victims a year, or 4 per ent ofall violent deaths, Most of the datas derived from incident reporting systems and surveillance databases, which typically yield conservative estimates since they often undercount the numberof victims in any ven situation, The reasons for this are obvious: any data harvesting system depends on quality reporting snd institutional capacity to monitor incidents hitpsstes suf edureinventingpeace/2012103/26icisaggregating etal-armed-vilence!‘02/02/2021 Disaggregating lethal armed violence - Reinventing PeaceReinventing Peace Assessing regional trends ‘The 201 Global Burden of Armed Violence zooms in on the 38 states that are experiencing violent death rates (direct conflict {deaths and intentional homicides combined) of more than 1 per 100,000. I finds that one-quarter ofthe worlds countres— comprising some 1.2 billion people or roughly 18 percent of the global population exhibit high and very high rates of armed violence and secount for almost two-thirds (63 percent) of ll violent death. An estimated 285,000 people are violently killed each yearin these countries. Among them, 14 countries are experiencing extremely high violent death rates—more than 30 violent deaths per 100,000 people; these comprise 4.6 per cent ofthe global population and account for an estimated 124,000 violent deaths nother words, 25 per cent of vilont deaths occur in just 14 countries, which are home to les than sper cent of the world’s population. Of these 14 countries, seven arein the Americas, As these findings reveal, armed violence i highly concentrated {in specific regions and in a comparatively small umber ofeountees The regions mos affected by lethal violence include [tin Ameries and the Caribbean, and Central and Southern Afia. tthe county level, El Salvador experienced the highest ‘overall annual average violent death rate between 2004 and 2009, followed by Iraq and Jamaica ‘Lethal violence isnot only distributed unevenly across states or regions, but also within states, While specific municipalities, cites, or neighbourhoods may be highly affected by criminal violence and armed cont, other areas may be comparatively peaceful Whereas Mexico's violet death rate in 2009 stood at 18.4 per 100,000 population, for example, the slate of CChinuahua experienced arate of 108 per 100,000 inthe same year. Understanding what is behind such extreme sub-national ‘rations in the incidence of armed violence isa prerequisite for designing and administering effective violence prevention sand reduction programmes. Itisalso possible to beter understand the diverse contexts and settings in which intentional homicides occur. I examines how intentional homicide may aris in the context of violent operations by gangs or organized eximinal groups, premeditated ‘orunplanned crimes of passion coramitted against intimate partners or family members, or other crimes, such as robbery ot theft. Such disaggregration of data is important for policy and programmatic reasons. For example, while countries in Asia and Europe show a comparatively high proportion of intimate or family~related homicides (around go per ent of total 7 homicides), their overall homicide rates are significantly lower than those of other regions, suchas the Amerias, Nonetheless, the high proportion of intimate or family-elaed homicides in many eountties in Asia and Europe underlines ‘the importance of aiming research and local violence reduction and prevention initiatives at these forms of lethal violence. ‘The proportion of intentional homicides associated with gangs oF organized erime is sgniicantly higher in countries in Latin America, At the same time, homicide rates related to robbery or theft tend tobe higher in countries with greater income Inequality. Moving forward Containing and reducing the incidence of armed violence requires a proper diagnosis ofits causes and consequences, Many governments affected by high level of armed violenee—as wel as many others that are aot afectod—have initiated ‘omprehensive armed violence monitoring systems. Such ‘observatories’ specially when administered in partnership with civ society and reliable research institutions, ean provide crucial information on the scale and distribution of lethal violence. "This datais indispensable in unpacking the complex relationships between armed violence and factors such as unemployment, inequality, the presence of lit markets, corruption, weak rule of lee, and impunity. The ability ofthe Jnternational community and national as well s local goveramentsto design appropriate policies and programmes for armed violence prevention and reduction depends critically on an integrated and comprehensive understanding ofthe distribution sand dynamics of lethal (and non-lethal) valence worldwide. Dr. Robert Muggah is based at the International Relations Institute (IRI-PUC) in Rio de Janeiro, He is also a Prineipal of the SeeDev Group in Ottawa and a fellow atthe Center for Conflict, Peacebuilding and Development (CCDP) in Geneva. Dr _Muggah isthe coordinator ofthe Humanitarian Aeton in Situations Other than War (HASOW) projet. Share Ifyou enjoyed his ate, please conser sharing i ifyou want tolesvea comment, please we your eal name and adhareto The ether Sco! comment poli, hp ww etcherforum.oryeomment-pliy Leave a Reply ‘Your email address will not be published. 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