Violence

Additional scientific description

The World Health Organization categorises violence as: self-directed, interpersonal and collective. All three categories of violence can have a societal impact whether directly or indirectly (WHO, 2002). According to Galtung (1969, 1996), violence can also be direct, structural, and cultural. There are several forms and typologies of violence. These are characterised here on the basis of the motives, target groups and tactics of violence:

Violence can either be targeted or indiscriminate, motivated by certain aims, including political, religious, social, economic, ethnic, racial, or gender-based, or unintentional and can be initiated with the aim to directly or indirectly inflict harm, injury or death (Krug et al., 2002). Violence has been explicitly identified as a significant public health problem (Rutherford et al., 2007).

Motives: Political violence is defined as hostile, aggressive or violent acts motivated by political objectives or a desire to directly or indirectly affect political change or change in governance. As a phenomenon, political violence may include a range of political acts from riots, coups, rebellions, uprisings and terrorism to violent acts committed by state and non-state actors, including pogroms, ethnic cleansing, and genocide (Kalyvas, 2013; Balcells, 2015). However, everyone has the right to peaceful assembly, as enshrined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 20(1)) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Art. 21), which imposes a corresponding obligation on States parties to respect and ensure its exercise, without discrimination (General Comment No. 37 (2020)).

While radicalisation, by definition, does not involve the use of violence, it refers to a process, often a multidimensional, complex and long-term process, by which individuals are introduced to extremist ideologies that motivate them to defy and challenge the status quo. This often leads to the eventual adoption of violence. Violent extremism refers to "the willingness to use or support the use of violence" or terror as an appropriate means to achieve ideological, social or political objectives (Elshimi, 2018; Mansour-Ille, 2019).

Religious violence refers to violent acts committed by either state or non-state actors and motivated by religious convictions, ideologies or belief systems. Religious violence is closely associated with radicalism and religious extremism and refers to acts ranging from inciting violence against particular religious groups, discrimination or segregating certain religious groups, persecution, genocide, random physical aggression, gang or mob violence and defaming or injuring verbal abuse or violence (Clarke, 2011).

Ethnic or racial violence refers to violence between different groups of people on the basis of ethnic or racial differences or differences in culture, religion or language motivated by ethnic or racial diversity. Violent acts motivated by ethnic or racial differences take many forms, ranging from segregation and institutionalised discrimination to genocide, ethnic cleansing, pogroms, civil wars and violent separatist movements (Bergmann & Crutchfield, 2009; Rutherford & Bar-Yam, 2010).

Social violence (also referred to as societal violence) refers to any type of violence employing physical or emotional acts of aggression committed by individuals or a community of individuals with the aim to have a social or societal impact or cause serious physical and emotional harm to a group of people or to society as a whole. These acts can be direct or indirect and can take various forms across countries varying from targeted social discrimination, segregation, terrorism, and physical aggression to gang violence. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979) refers to various forms of discriminatory acts on the basis of gender, which may impair or nullify "the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women" of their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms equal to men "in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field" (Art. 1). Social violence can also be politically motivated (Kelly, 2014).

Forms of violence: The forms of violence include injury or damage inflicted to an individual or collective group may be physical, psychological, sexual, or deprivation, or combined

Gender-based violence is defined as acts or threats of acts intended to cause harm, injury, physical, sexual or psychological suffering to individuals and groups on the basis of their gender, such as women or LGBTIQ+ communities. It is defined by the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life" (Art. 1). Gender-based violence is also used in the context of domestic violence or intimate partner violence and can result in various forms of abuse and exploitation, including economic exploitation. A form of gender-based violence is sexual violence and exploitation, which refers to any form of abuse or exploitation that is sexually motivated targeting vulnerable groups, particularly women and children. Convention C190 of the ILO (2019) defines gender-based violence as violence and harassment "directed at persons because of their sex or gender or affecting persons of a particular sex or gender disproportionately and includes sexual harassment" (Art. 1b).

Child abuse, violence and exploitation refer to acts of violence, cruel or harmful treatment of a minor for profit, labour, sexual gratification, vengeance or other personal or financial gains (WHO). The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989) explicitly prohibits "all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child" (Art. 19.1).

Terrorism refers to acts (a) committed with the intention of causing death or serious bodily injury, or the taking of hostages; (b) committed for the purpose of provoking a state of terror, intimidating a population, or compelling a Government or international organization to do or abstain from doing any act; and (c) constituting offences within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.

Psychological violence refers to any intentional or unintentional conduct that aims to cause serious emotional or psychological harm to another person (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2017). The Istanbul Convention (2011) outlines examples of such acts to include verbal aggression, coercive threats and intimidation, control, harassment or stalking, insults, humiliating and defaming conducts as well as acts that render another person isolated from family, friends and any sort of support. Such acts mainly occur in interpersonal relationships, such as familial, parental or intimate partner relationships (Council of Europe, 2014).

Torture is defined in the Convention against Torture (CAT) (1984) as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity" (Art. 1.1).

The prohibition against torture and other forms of ill-treatment is embodied in several international human rights treaties and declarations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (Art. 5, 1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (Art. 7, 1966), and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984). Several regional human rights treaties also uphold and reaffirm the prohibition against torture and other forms of ill-treatment, including: The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) (Art. 3, 1950), the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) (Art. 5, 1969), the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) (Art. 5, 1981), the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (1985), and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987).

Cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment refers to ill-treatment, which is premeditated and applied for prolonged periods of time that amounts to be cruel, inhumane and violating human dignity aimed at causing bodily injury, harm or intense physical and mental suffering (European Court of Human Rights, 2000).

Gang-related violence refers to violence that is perpetrated by a group of people who associate themselves with what can be referred to as a 'gang' - a relatively well-defined, durable and predominately street-based group of young people dominating a particular territory and known to the wider community (UK Government, 2016). Organised crime, on the other hand, refers to violent crimes or criminal activities committed by a group of people in an organised manner for profit using coercion, retaliation and extortion (NCA, 2020). Organised crimes are not confined to particular territories or borders.

Metrics and numeric limits

In 2019 an estimated 475,000 people worldwide were victims of homicide (global rate of 6.2 per 100,000). Rates in high-income countries/areas are generally lower than rates in low- and middle-income countries/areas. Some 80% of homicides occur in males and the highest rates are in males aged 15-29 years. Estimates are not calculated for countries with populations under 90,000 in 2019 or WHO non-Member States (WHO, no date b).

Estimates published by WHO indicate that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime (WHO, 2024).

Most of this violence is intimate partner violence. Worldwide, almost one third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner (WHO, 2024).