Armed violence in Asia and the Pacific: an overview of the causes, costs and consequences

This paper presents a general overview of the risks and effects of armed violence in Asia. It also focuses in detail on the issue of armed violence arising from armed conflicts particularly its causes and impacts. The final section of the paper considers the broad array of armed violence reduction initiatives underway in Asia.

The author provides details of issues such as:

• Defining and Understanding Armed Violence: No universal definition exists for armed violence
  
• Armed Conflict in Asia and the Pacific: the use of organised armed violence between two parties over contested issues of governance
  
• Non-conflict armed violence in Asia and the Pacific: Globally, violence kills more than 500,000 people annually, with most of this violence taking place in developing countries, and much of this violence being perpetrated with firearms
  
• Responses to armed violence: efforts to contribute to a concrete and visible decline in real and perceived armed violence to enhance the prospects of sustainable human and economic development.

Key findings include:

• Asia currently has the highest incidence of armed conflicts in the world. Many of these armed conflicts are protracted and have lasted decades
  
• Although Asia, has the lowest reported (average) rate of homicidal violence there are considerable variations between sub-regions and countries
  
• The effects of armed violence on human and economic development are considerable.

In conclusion the author asserts that:

• The persistence of several low-intensity armed conflicts, the threat of Islamic extremism and terrorist acts, the high levels of homicide in some countries, and the frequent reporting of violence against women present considerable challenges to many Asian governments
  
• Asian governments possess the capacity and resources to respond to the problem of armed violence. In other cases, governments will require external assistance to respond to armed violence in a targeted fashion that prevents future armed violence from occurring
  
• An important element of an effective response is the availability of reliable data about armed violence.