The global economy loses $95-163 billion each year through productivity lost due to armed violence, according to a new report by the Geneva Declaration. This figure does not include the direct and indirect costs of wars and similar situations. The report was launched on 12 September at the Review Summit for the 2006 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.
This figure for armed violence includes all types of weapons, not just small arms. However, the report estimates that firearms were used in the majority (60%) of the 490,000 homicides worldwide in 2004. It also examines deaths in conflict zones, both the direct deaths in battle and the indirect deaths from disease and malnutrition, etc. Click here to download the report directly.
'The Geneva Declaration has created an opportunity for a poor country like Guatemala to link sustainable development with reducing gun violence,' said Mayda de León, a researcher with IANSA member IEPADES. 'Our 36-year civil war ended in 1996, but 25 people are killed or seriously injured every day by gunshots, in a country of just 12 million people. The combination of firearms, shantytowns, drug trafficking and a poor social fabric are keeping our country violent and poor.'
The Review Summit assessed progress on implementing the Geneva Declaration, which has been endorsed by 94 countries to date. The 13 countries that form the Core Group promoting the declaration are seeking support for a resolution at the UN General Assembly on 'Promoting development through armed violence prevention and reduction'.
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