Indicators for achieving sustainable development: Measuring violent deaths and SDG Goal 16

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a new proposed framework to come into effect after the Millennium Development Goals. Amongst them, Goal 16 focuses on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice, and accountable institutions. This goal is a significant step towards recognizing that preventing and reducing violence is essential for development. In the first part of this two-episode podcast Small Arms Survey experts explain how the Global Burden of Armed Violence (GBAV) initiative offers useful methodology for implementing SDG Target 16.1, which calls for measurable reductions in armed violence. Research Director Anna Alvazzi del Frate, Senior Researcher and Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development Luigi De Martino, and Researcher Irene Pavesi discuss the GBAV initiative, its context, and its relevance to SDG Goal 16. For further reading see Note 49 Every Body Counts: Measuring Violent Deaths, March 2015. Research Note No. 49, Armed Violence. The third volume in the GBAV series, Global Burden of Armed Violence 2015: Every Body Counts, is due for release on 11 May 2015.