Preventing Violence, Promoting Peace: A Policy Toolkit for Preventing Interpersonal, Collective and Extremist Violence

"The findings of this report emphasise the importance of violence prevention for sustainable development and the importance of sustainable development in the prevention of violence."

Developed to inform a Commonwealth violence prevention action plan, this policy toolkit brings together evidence on the prevention of all types of violence directed at others, including interpersonal violence (child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, elder abuse, and youth violence), collective violence (including war and gang violence), and radicalisation and violent extremism (RVE). The document focuses on preventing violence at the earliest possible stages rather than dealing with established violent behaviours. The document is structured into 6 sections. This first section provides an introduction to the report, how it fits in to Commonwealth policy, the forms of violence it covers, and the public health approach to violence prevention. (Fifty-two countries are members of the Commonwealth; they span Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific and are diverse.) Section 2 outlines the extent of violence globally, and Section 3 explores the impacts of violence on health, social wellbeing, and the economy. Section 4 focuses on the risk factors that can drive violence, and Section 5 on what works to prevent violence. The final section summarises key findings and presents recommendations. This summary highlights some of the communication-centred aspects of the report.

As detailed here, violence impacts on the lives of billions of men, women and children across the globe, contributing to death, disease and disability. In 2015, there were an estimated 580,000 deaths from violence worldwide, with a disproportionate burden among men and young adults. While a growing body of research provides evidence-based solutions to violence, new threats emerge. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) now connect and inform individuals, regardless of their location, about events in real time, including violent atrocities worldwide. ICTs expose economic inequalities. They enable violence-promoting propaganda to be distributed to millions of individuals at all ages without control by parents (in the case of children) or state regulation, and allow new forms of violence to be undertaken (e.g. online bullying, sexual exploitation) with anonymity and impunity. Finding the correct balance between protecting the freedoms ICTs offer to individuals and the need for the state or parents to regulate such freedoms is a challenge for violence prevention globally.

The public health approach adopted here focuses on understanding factors that increase risk of, or resilience (resistance) to, involvement in violence and identifies evidence-based interventions that reduce risk while increasing resilience. Violence is addressed here as a life course issue (e.g., childhood adversity increases the risk of involvement in violence in later life. Positive relationships are a source of resilience, diverting vulnerable individuals from an otherwise violent life course.

Several cross-cutting themes for preventing all types of violence explored in the report imply communication approaches:

• Gender and the role of women in prevention - Persistent and widespread gender inequalities increase women's and girls' risk of victimisation. Addressing women's active involvement in the perpetration of violence should be part of prevention.
• Training professionals - Suitably trained frontline professionals are required to support prevention, identify those at risk, and act as advocates for organisational, policy, and legislative change.
• Challenging norms and developing narratives - Social and cultural norms that contribute to inequalities, marginalisation, and fractionalisation increase violence. Replacing narratives that support violence with ones that centre on tolerance and human rights appears central to addressing violence, including extremism.
• Understanding and interpreting the media - Advances in technology and communication have brought with them new threats to peace. Children and adults require skills to be critical consumers of modern technologies, and they need appropriate protection from their abuse.
• Parents, mentors, peers, and role models - Parents can create safe and stable environments for children that support the development of resilience. Positive role models, including from peers and others in communities, are key to violence prevention at all ages.
• Social and emotional skills development - Life and social skills help individuals deal with life choices and build positive relationships. Critical thinking skills help people understand different views on society, religion, and politics, which is key to preventing violence.
• Community-based multi-sectoral and sustainable strategies - Multi-sectoral contributions from health, education, criminal justice, social, housing, and community and voluntary sectors are important in prevention, allowing community and policy-level changes based on sustained resources and long-term political support.

The report examines how programmes can work in practice; for example:

• There is increasingly good evidence of the utility of parenting programmes for reducing child maltreatment across cultures and countries.
• Many gender-based violence (GBV) prevention programmes are effective at changing perceptions and beliefs, although direct change in violent behaviour (e.g., intimate partner and sexual violence) is less well evidenced, particularly over the longer term.
• To tackle elder abuse, public information campaigns and school-based intergenerational programmes (that aim to create understanding and empathy between generations) are being used to challenge stereotypes and social norms.
• Community-based interventions that allow information sharing and partnership working between young people, their families, schools, community organisations and public services, and involve multiple stakeholders in their design and delivery, have shown positive impacts in reducing youth violence, substance use, and criminal activity.
• Community-based approaches with collaboration between government, community organisations, education, health and social care, police, and the media appear instrumental in the prevention of RVE.

The report offers policy recommendations, such as: Implement training and professional development on violence prevention and trauma informed care in health, educational, and related sectors and facilitate key professionals adopting an advocacy role for violence prevention. (Health professionals should utilise their position as credible witnesses of the devastating impacts of all types of violence on individuals, families, and health and social systems to advocate for investment in and action on violence prevention.)