Global Burden of Armed Violence - The Geneva Declaration on ...

90 cation, displacement, and out-migration
GLOBAL BURDEN <strong>of</strong> ARMED VIOLENCE
Photo " An Iraqi man
mourns the death <strong>of</strong> his
family and destruction <strong>of</strong>
his home in fighting in
Baghdad, 2003.
© Q. Sakamaki/Redux
measured as a function <strong>of</strong> years <strong>of</strong> life lost);
rising transaction costs (lowered consumer
and investor confidence, particularly in cities);
and
the reallocation <strong>of</strong> development assistance (to
less risky environments).
It is only in accounting for all <strong>of</strong> these costs that
one can achieve a genuinely global picture <strong>of</strong> the
economic consequences <strong>of</strong> armed violence.
Developing a better estimate <strong>of</strong> the economic
burden <strong>of</strong> armed violence is essential for priori-
tizing, designing, financing, and implementing
effective interventions. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Geneva</strong> <strong>Declaration</strong>
on <strong>Armed</strong> <strong>Violence</strong> and Development empha-
sises how measurement <strong>of</strong> the economic costs
<strong>of</strong> armed violence can encourage investment in
preventive action and hedging against future
losses. 3 Demonstrating who loses what, where,
when, and under what circumstances, can
assist policy-makers, activists, and researchers
in identifying constituencies to support armed
violence reduction in the public and private
sectors.
Unfortunately, most efforts to calculate the costs
<strong>of</strong> armed violence at the global or even national
level have been frustrated by the absence <strong>of</strong> a
unified conceptual framework, complementary
methodologies, or the availability <strong>of</strong> data over
time. As discussed below, there are consequently
extreme variations in estimates. 4
<strong>The</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> documenting the economic
dimensions <strong>of</strong> armed violence is today widely
appreciated. But research is <strong>of</strong>ten narrowly focused
on two core manifestations <strong>of</strong> armed violence—war
and crime—with issues such as intimate partner
and sexual violence <strong>of</strong>ten left hidden from view.
In the case <strong>of</strong> war, researchers frequently adopt a
case study or cross-country comparative approach,
measuring economic effects as a function <strong>of</strong> GDP
losses in absolute or relative terms. 5 Such costs
imply a loss <strong>of</strong> income (and purchasing power)
that, in most developing countries, would other-
wise be devoted to the acquisition <strong>of</strong> basic needs,
such as food, shelter, and clothing.
<strong>The</strong>se studies reveal that the annual burden <strong>of</strong>
war-related violence ranges from 2 to 20 per cent
<strong>of</strong> a country’s GDP. 6 While the studies have limi-
tations and contradictions, they overwhelmingly