NYU’s Center on International Cooperation co-hosted an event with the United Nations on Saturday to present a report detailing strategies that support the U.N.’s goal to cut global violence by 50 percent in the next six years.

The conference was part of the United Nations Summit of the Future Action Days, an annual event where U.N. representatives hear from local and regional leaders, creative communities, youth and other stakeholders who have demonstrated interest and involvement in global policy. 

The report focuses on the role of interpersonal violence, an area researchers said is “overlooked” and accounts for a greater number of violence-related deaths compared to armed conflict worldwide. It lists recommendations for governments, including investing in small-scale solutions, establishing offices for violence prevention and integrating law enforcement with community outreach programs. It also calls for leaders to focus more on gender-based violence, citing that interpersonal violence accounts for 76 percent of violence-related deaths for women compared to 52 percent for men.

Daniel Friedman, the Program Director for NYU CIC’s Halving Global Violence Task Force, added that interpersonal violence can be more directly influenced by governments and policymakers. 

“Interpersonal violence that takes place outside of conflict zones in the homes and the streets and in communities is overwhelmingly the majority of violence you see,” Friedman said in an interview with WSN. “It’s often overlooked, and it’s also the area where we’ve seen the greatest potential for impact.” 

The HGV Task Force is hosted by the NYU CIC and co-chaired by representatives of Switzerland, Liberia, South Africa, Costa Rica, The Democratic Republic of Congo and the African Union. NYU CIC created the task force under its Pathfinders team that works with 46 U.N. member states aiming to reduce global violence. 

Martin Kimani, NYU CIC’s executive director and the organization’s primary representative at the event, said that the center aims to translate discussions from the United Nations into tangible policies. 

“All around the world, we have seen examples of initiatives already in place that have obtained measurable progress to reduce violence,” Kimami said at the conference. “This is at the heart of our philosophy at CIC.” 

The HGV Task Force hopes to present the report at an event catered towards NYU students, but a date has not yet been set.

“Students here have so many great perspectives,” Friedman said. “I’m really enthusiastic to get their thoughts.”

Contact Cooper Walton at [email protected].