Gun violence and youth: the importance of viewing arms control through a gendered lens
By: International Action Network On Small Arms, Iansa
Tags: Gun Violence, Gender, United Nations, Youth Empowerment, Youth

Nathan Lefievre, IANSA Youth Network

There are more young people in the world than ever before. According to the United Nations, there are approximately 1.8 billion people ages 10–24, and more than 50 percent of the world’s population is under the age of 30. These young people will be at the world’s helm in the future, many working to transform it into a better one. But today, the positive potential of too many young is held back by conflicts, armed violence, and poverty.

I am 21 years old and a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) Youth Network. In my work, I have seen how youth are highly affected by the proliferation and misuse of small arms. Despite this, young people tend to be dismissed as too naive and lacking in pragmatism regarding world issues when they share their vision for a better world. Alternatively, they tend to be dismissed as self-absorbed or even stereotyped as the biggest troublemakers in society. But it is the willingness that many young people have to achieve a better society and to solve the world’s problems that is needed to take decisive action against gun proliferation and violence. Young people are the future and are a huge asset for innovative ideas on transforming their own future. However, instead of being viewed as agents of change for peace, they have too often been defined as the problem or not relevant to problem solving. Moreover, narratives concerning young people often reinforce gender stereotypes and create obstacles for engaging all youth. It is therefore crucial to view gun violence and youth through a gendered lens.

Background: The devastating effects of small arms on youth worldwide

There are an estimated one billion guns in circulation in the world, and many more are being manufactured annually. These guns fuel insecurity in the future of young people. According to the World Health Organization, 42 percent of homicide victims are 10–29 years old. Youth are critically impacted by gun violence all over the world, both as victims and perpetrators of gun violence.

Gun violence leads to a variety of challenges for youth worldwide. It leads to internal displacement, leading youth to miss out on education, work experience, and vital opportunities. In conflicts, young people are often targeted by or recruited to armed groups. The proliferation of and access to small arms fuels criminal networks in which young people participate, aiming to obtain status and economic benefits. Armed violence also affects access to education, making young people feel unsafe travelling to or being in school, or simply by preventing the establishment or operation of learning centers in the first place.

Guns in the home also create an unsafe space for many children and youth. As IANSA’s Women’s Network notes in its Call to Action, the presence of a gun in the home significantly increases the risk of death in situations of domestic violence. IANSA members have been raising concern about this issue, which needs more attention than ever given alarming reports on the rise in domestic violence that have been reported during home confinement periods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsecured firearms in a home also significantly increase the risk of death and injury among children and youth from accidental discharge.

Leaving no one behind: the need for a comprehensive approach

In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted seventeen global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the of achieving them by 2030 to foster a better and more sustainable future for all. These goals include ending poverty, achieving gender equality, making cities safe, ensuring quality education, and securing peace, justice and strong institutions. A comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence is needed to make these goals a reality, however. IANSA has been raising awareness of how gun violence affects and relates to a number of the SDGs. The world has only 10 years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, however. To do so, the Member States must scale up their actions, engage with youth as major stakeholders who can contribute to reaching the SDGs, and take into account a comprehensive approach that addresses the intersection of age and gender.

A crucial need to acknowledge youth as actors in the field of peace and security

August 12 was International Youth Day, and the theme for 2020 is “Youth Engagement for Global Action”. It seeks to highlight ways in which the engagement of youth is enriching institutions at all levels, and to provide examples of ways to advance the engagement of youth in formal institutions. As a youth representative of civil society organizations and part of IANSA’s Youth Network, I wish to emphasize the importance of this approach in increasing youth engagement.

In 2015, the United Nations Security Council emphasized the importance of youth as agents of change in promoting peace and security through the adoption of the historic UNSC Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. Following UNSRC 2250, two additional resolutions have been adopted and added to what is commonly referred to as the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda (YPS Agenda). The latest resolution, UNSCR 2535, was adopted on 14 July 2020. The resolution includes topics such as youth protection and involvement in the current pandemic, as well as the imperative of diversity. The resolution recognized the importance of engaging youth in shaping peace and contributing to justice and reconciliation. Moreover, it affirmed that the protection of all youth, particularly women and girls, and their participation in peace processes are significant elements in the promotion and maintenance of peace and security.

Since the adoption of UNSCR 2250, more and more institutions have recognized the importance of engaging with youth. In a joint initiative with UNODA, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) offers a Scholarship for Peace and Security Training for young professionals, in particular young women who are underrepresented in the male dominated security and disarmament sector, to support the next generation of young professionals and promote greater gender parity. The MOSAIC module 6.20 on Children, adolescents, youth and small arms and light weapons serves as a practical guidebook on how to protect youth and children from the effects of small arms. It recognizes that identity markers such as age, gender, class, race and income level, as well as culture and context, should be taken into account when developing programs on small arms control. In 2019, UNODA launched the Youth4Disarmament initiative, which recognizes the importance of young people in bringing about change and provides a platform for young people to make meaningful contributions to disarmament processes.

To see youth through a gendered lens — a must!

It is important to acknowledge that the possession, proliferation, and use of small arms are gendered. The majority of victims and perpetrators of small arms-related violence are men. Young men aged 15–29 face a particular risk of death and injury due to gunshots. Most societies make strong associations between power and violence, and weapons are generally viewed not only as a symbol of power, but also of masculinity. Owning, brandishing, or using a weapon is often considered a symbol of manhood. Military conscription, often reserved to men, is another example of the gendering of guns and armed violence, as well as of our perceptions of gendered roles in which men are primarily seen as protectors and women as the ones needing protection. In societies with strong norms of militarized masculinities, young men are provided with access to masculinity through bearing weapons and being part of paramilitary groups. A study on former combatants in Colombia shows how these norms also are encouraged by young women preferring these men as partners due to their association with guns, money, and power. This illustrates how these gendered norms associated with guns can be encouraged by groups of different gender identities; it is not a men’s issue or a women’s issue but an issue that needs to be addressed by the whole society. The relationship between guns and masculine identity is something that many children are socialized into at a young age, not least through toy guns and popular culture.

It is crucial to remember that gun violence disproportionately affects the lives and livelihoods of women, as they suffer from a wide range of negative effects despite being a tiny minority of the perpetrators of gun violence. A global study on homicide by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime revealed that in 2017, 87 000 women were murdered with a firearm around the globe. The same study shows that women represent 82 percent of the total homicides due to intimate partner violence. In the United States, women are 11 times more likely to die by firearm femicides than women in other high income nations. Even in my home country of France, a country not strongly associated with gun violence, a woman dies every two days from femicide. On average, a third of all femicides are committed using a firearm worldwide, with the rate rising to 60 percent in Latin America. In aiming to achieve gender equality, it is of utmost importance that we increase awareness of ways to prevent these crimes and work towards their eradication. At the same time, it is important to avoid contributing to policies that stereotype young men as simply “risk-factors” and women as passive victims.

Gendered stereotypes — still an obstacle for youth engagement in arms control

The Missing Peace: Independent Progress study on Youth Peace and Security highlights and problematizes counterproductive policies reproducing myths and stereotypes about youth. There are often underlying assumptions that youth equals young men and masculinity norms linked to armed violence. Since young men are vulnerable recruitment targets for armed groups, young men tend to be seen as potential “troublemakers”, and as the problem that needs to be solved. The UN Women report, Young Women in Peace and Security: At the Intersection of YPS and WPS Agenda shows how these narratives concerning young people often reinforce gender stereotypes. As a result, interventions targeting youth tend to focus on young men, largely ignoring young women. This hinders engagement with all youth. Women play crucial roles in leading peacebuilding efforts to prevent the outbreak of conflict and armed violence, and most young men are not involved in armed violence.

IANSA’s member organizations, the IANSA Youth Network, and IANSA’s Women’s Network provide good examples of how civil society organizations challenge these narratives. Young people, despite limited means, are capable of changing their societies and working against the proliferation and misuse of small arms. By sharing statistics and conveying the consequences of expected societal roles of women, the Rural Development Foundation in Pakistan works to create change and prevent gender-based violence and honor killings by mobilizing young community members. Gun Free South Africa has produced a toolkit for a youth audience addressing the gendered impact of small arms and has organized workshops on how young people can engage in the legislative process to advocate for stronger gun control. These are just a few examples of IANSA members promoting and fostering a peaceful culture by working with youth in re-defining existing gender roles and their relationship to guns that limit young people’s capacities and may reproduce violent behaviours.

Now is the time to act!

This year is a year of anniversaries at the United Nations. 2020 marks 75 years since the UN was established, 25 years since the Beijing Platform was adopted, 20 years since UNSCR 1325 on Women Peace and Security was adopted, and five years since UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security was adopted. This is a time to reflect on the progress and achievements, but also to call for action. The resolutions included in the YPS Agenda are linked to the resolutions within the Women Peace and Security Agenda (WPS Agenda) and thereby the Security Council recognizes how these two Agendas intersect, and that youth and disarmament has to be seen through a gendered lens. But the reality on the ground shows that UN Member States and policy makers must do much more in addressing and implementing the intersections of the YPS Agenda and the WPS Agenda.

IANSA calls on decision makers to:

● Acknowledge young people as agents for change and a creative force in preventing the proliferation and misuse of the one billion small arms that previous generations are leaving behind for young people to have to grapple with now and in the future.

● Recognize the intersection of the YPS Agenda and WPS Agenda and the need to apply a comprehensive approach to arms control, not only on paper but also in practice.

● Incentivize policy makers to be more aware of their own perceptions of gendered norms and how these perceptions are reflected in policies, in order to cultivate non-violent masculinities. This job should not only be allocated to gender experts!

● Avoid reproducing counterproductive policies and acknowledge the diversity of youth. In particular, move away from discussions of young men as “trouble-makers”, a narrative that tends to stigmatize young men and renders young women invisible.

● Ensure the representation of youth in international negotiations on small arms control. It is important to include civil society organizations that often have large representation of youth and possess valuable knowledge in how to implement the intersection of the YPS Agenda and the WPS Agenda in the field.

● Ensure the representation of youth as members of governments’ national coordination bodies. National coordination bodies created to provide overall coordination and policy direction for national small arms and light weapons control efforts should also include diverse representation from civil society, including youth.

● Ensure that police and other law enforcers are professional, well trained, responsive, accountable, and work with communities to protect them and to keep guns away from irresponsible hands. State forces that are abusive, unaccountable and fail to provide protection to communities, including women and girls, fuel increased demand for and use of weapons by young people and other civilians. In this respect, a relationship of law enforcement to youth that is based on professionalism and integrity is crucial for gun control.

Nathan Lefievre is an IANSA Programme Associate and member of the IANSA Youth Network. He is the creator of the website Elle s’appelait , which aims to raise awareness of femicides in France and the need to end violence against women globally. He is also the co-creator of the youth vision of “One billion trees, not one billion guns,” which aims to raise awareness of the link between climate change and armed violence, and calls for greater action on the climate crisis and on reducing the global arsenal of guns. Nathan is currently pursuing a Dual Masters in European Affairs and Public Policy between Sciences Po Paris and the National University of Singapore. In his professional future, he aims to raise civil society and NGO participation in the decision-making process of the United Nations.

This blogpost was written as part of IANSA’s “Civil society engagement in support of gender mainstreamed policies, programmes and actions in the fight against small arms trafficking and misuse, in line with the Women, Peace and Security agenda”, which is funded by the United Nations. This document was produced with the financial assistance of the United Nations through contributions received from the European Union. The views expressed herein are those of the Implementing Partner and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or the European Union.