Global Violence Reduction Conference 2014

WHO and University of Cambridge Global Violence Reduction Conference 2014

"Global Strategies to Reduce Violence by 50% in the Next 30 Years"

17-19 September 2014 at King's College, Cambridge

The 2014 Global Violence Reduction Conference was jointly organised by the Prevention of Violence Unit of the World Health Organization and the Violence Research Centre of the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. The conference convened 150 global experts in violence prevention from academia and major international and philanthropic organisations. It invited participants to discuss what needs to been done in order to achieve a sustained reduction in interpersonal and political violence across the world over the coming three decades. Where should resources be invested? What knowledge is required from researchers? What should national governments and international organisations do? In addressing these questions it explicitly aimed to identify commonalities between different manifestations of violence and find synergies between various violence reduction strategies. It engaged leading specialists from economics, political science, public health, psychology, prevention science and criminology with policy makers in a debate on what is needed to achieve this goal.

Conference Goals 

In May 2014, the World Health Assembly resolution gave the World Health Organization a mandate to strengthen public health policies that support violence reduction, in particular against women and children. Moreover, peaceful and inclusive societies and access to justice for all are a core element in the current draft of the United Nations post-2015 development goals.

Achieving a major long-term reduction in violence, especially in the most afflicted societies, will be a huge task.  It must be informed by measurable indicators to assess whether goals are achieved; it will require a strengthening of capacities to address and prevent violence in its different manifestations; it will need multisectoral action plans and policies to reduce the major risk factors for violence.

This conference brought together scholars and representatives of international organizations as well as civil society and philanthropic organizations. It aimed to identify the scientific knowledge that can contribute to the advancement of a global road map for reducing violence across the world. Our goal was to identify the research we need, the knowledge we have, and the policy recommendations we can make to support a coherent framework that can guide national, regional and global violence reduction efforts.

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We are grateful to the UBS Optimus Foundation for making this conference possible with their generous support.