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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:58 pm
Time: 11:58 pm
Results for slums (africa)
1 results foundAuthor: Muggah, Robert Title: More Slums Equals More Violence: Reviewing Armed Violence and Urbanization in Africa Summary: The majority of the world’s population today live in cities. The uncontrolled development of informal settlements in many cities has led to the expansion of slums and shantytowns. In Africa figures show that in 2005 approximately 40 percent of the population live in urban areas with this number estimated to rise to 50 percent by 2030. Even more alarming, more than half of Africa’s urban populations reside in slums. The concentration of the poor in cities and the peripheries is expected to continue, with dramatic increases in pace and scale in developing regions such as Africa. Residents of sprawling slums and shantytowns are exposed to heightened exposure and risk of criminal violence, narcotics and communicable illnesses, all of which constitute potent determinants of armed violence. Because they are often located outside the reach of formal policing institutions, impoverished slums are less able to enforce the regulation of the trade and use of weapons, including firearms. There is an estimated 30 million small arms and light weapons on the African continent, of which approximately 80 percent are in civilian hands, it is likely that marginalized areas of Africa’s urban landscape will become home to ever-growing arsenals. As the scale and distribution of urban armed violence in Africa evolves, some agreement on the types of risk factors contributing to its onset and spread on the continent have been identified. These include: Structural factors such as limited education, under- and unemployment, income inequality and uncontrolled urban planning. Proximate factors include segregation and urban density, cultures of masculinity, limited faith in public security, informal social organizations such as gangs and militia, and arms availability.4 There is also a strong link between countries emerging from war and the onset of urban violence – usually of a political and criminalise form. This is usually accompanied by the erosion of emerging democratic and development institutions.5 It is important to remember that there is ‘neither a simple nor a necessary causal link between urbanization and armed violence’.6 This paper explores some of the links between urbanization and armed violence within the African context, examining the nature and impact of particular aspects of armed violence such as firearm homicides and the emergence of criminal gang activity and vigilantism. The paper also considers possible approaches to reduce urban armed violence, drawing on lessons learned in other developing regions. Details: Geneva: United Nations Development Programme, 2007. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: UNDP/Geneva Declaration Working Paper; Accessed March 30, 2012 at: http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/regional-publications/Armed-Violence-and-Urbanization-in-Africa.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Africa URL: http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/regional-publications/Armed-Violence-and-Urbanization-in-Africa.pdf Shelf Number: 113573 Keywords: Armed ViolenceEconomic ConditionsPovertySlums (Africa)Urban Violence |