On 21 September 2024, the United Nations (UN) International Day of Peace, ACCORD’s Founder and Executive Director, Dr Vasu Gounden, was invited to be a resource person at a side event held at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA, during the 2024 UN Summit of the Future Action Days. The event was co-hosted by the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University, the Governments of Czechia and Costa Rica, the World Health Organization, and International Idea.
The side event marked the launch of the HGV’s Task Force’s Flagship Report, “Beyond the Battlefields: Practical Strategies to Halving Global Violence in Our Homes, Streets, and Communities.” Dr Gounden is a member of the Task Force Committee.
Through years of research, exchange, and cooperation, the Halving Global Violence Task Force has identified successful initiatives to dramatically reduce violence at multiple levels, and has put all this knowledge into its flagship report, “Beyond the Battlefields: Practical Strategies to Halving Global Violence in Our Homes, Streets, and Communities.” The report presents a new and in-depth look at the prevalence and costs of violence and identifies proven, innovative approaches to achieve the ambitious goal of cutting global violence in half. It presents strategies to dramatically reduce violence where it is frequently overlooked, but most often occurs and where there is the greatest promise for a return of investment: in our homes, streets, and communities.
The high-level event aimed to publicize the report’s findings, and to highlight its recommendations. The event featured a range of speakers, including high-level government officials, members of the multilateral community, local governments and civil society, as well as presentations on the key research findings, and discussion to explore specific violence prevention solutions featured in the report.
In November 2023, ACCORD hosted the third meeting of the Task Force at ACCORD House in Durban, South Africa in partnership with Pathfinders, the Government of South Africa and with the support of the Government of Switzerland.
