Killings during ‘legal interventions’—the ‘killing of civilians by law enforcement officials, or killings of law enforcement officials on duty’—accounted for an estimated 19,000 violent deaths each year during 2007–2012; which is 4 per cent of the 508,000 total violent deaths each year during that period.

Such events raise questions about security policy, the role and accountability of the state and law enforcement agencies, the legitimacy of certain state actions, and potential avenues for security sector reform.

In September 2015 world leaders will meet at the UN to adopt the Sustainable Devel­opment Goals (SDGs),which will be the international development framework that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals. The seventeen proposed goals and associated targets are planned to run until 2030. Among them, Goal 16 focuses on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to jus­tice, and accountable institutions.

Accurate and reliable data on the scope, scale, and causes of all forms of armed violence is vital for shaping policy, developing responses, and monitoring progress.

Mechanisms for monitoring and analysing situations of conflict, crime and violence, such as observatories on crime and violence, or armed violence monitoring systems (AVMSs), have helped to improve the effectiveness of  armed violence reduction.

Almost one-half of Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence, including forced sexual initiation. Much of the violence is barely acknowledged, let alone investigated and prosecuted. Extreme and even fatal acts of violence—targeting poor women in particular—are common enough to be considered unremarkable, a non-issue for the media, the political class, the police, and by extension, the Kenyan state.

With the majority of the world’s population now living in cities, and with levels of violence very often higher in urban than rural areas, urban armed violence has become increasingly critical to securing human security and safety.

Urban Armed Violence, a Research Note by the Small Arms Survey and the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, surveys the state of research into urban armed violence, and explores some of the main debates on this subject.

On average, armed violence kills 526,000 people each year.

On average, an estimated 526,000 people died violently each year in 2004–09. This figure includes an estimated  55,000 direct conflict deaths, 396,000 intentional homicides, 54,000 ‘unintentional’ homicides, and 21,000 killings during legal interventions. Far more people died violently in non-conflict settings than were killed in conflicts.

The number of violent deaths is frequently used as a proxy for measuring armed violence, because killings are likely to be recorded more systematically than other crimes.

Working Paper No. 3

Available in ENGLISH

Global Burden of Armed Violence 2015: Every Body Counts provides a wealth of data relevant to security and the post-2015 sustainable development framework. The report examines how a comprehensive approach to violent deaths can serve to track progress towards a peace and security goal—whether as part of the post-2015 development framework or as a goal in and of itself.