A/70/289 and locks marginalized children into a vicious cycle of further marginalization and violence. 53. According to the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, on average more than 500,000 people die violently each year and 44 per cent of all violent deaths are from firearms. Most armed violence occurs in the context of crime or interpersonal conflict and 84 per cent of viole nt deaths occur in non-conflict countries. 54. Incidents of violence in the community, both those associated with criminal activities and those occurring in the privacy of the home are often deeply interconnected. They cause fear, insecurity and harm to fa milies, communities and society in general. Children are hard hit, both as victims and as witnesses. 55. Adolescent boys are at high risk of homicide because they are more prone to participating in activities such as street fighting, street crime, gang mem bership and possession of weapons. For girls, the greatest risk is violence from intimate partners. 56. Violence associated with gangs, including extortion, physical violence, homicides and disappearances, has a shattering effect on childhood and adolescen ce. It compromises access to education and health services, recreation and social support; it is associated with lower levels of school enrolment and retention and higher levels of poverty; and it aggravates the risk of domestic violence and the vulnerability of children. 57. Too often, children from poor communities or from areas known for gang activity are stigmatized and perceived as delinquents, carrying an increased risk of criminalization and detention, and limited options for protection and genuine reintegration. 58. Migration can aggravate such a situation. In affected countries, many children live with only one or without any parent and in many cases deprivation is pervasive, with high rates of child poverty and limited access to social services to prevent and respond to violent incidents. 59. Children from disadvantaged communities are attractive targets for organized criminal networks. Through coercion, social pressure or the promise of financial reward, they are at risk of recruitment and manipulation to hold or deliver drugs or weapons, carry out petty crimes, beg on the streets, or become involved in other exploitative activities. 60. Public fear of gang violence and youth crime fuels the perception of children as a danger, rather than as being at risk, and mass media stigmatization helps to foster tolerance of institutionalized violence against them. In turn, that generates societal pressure to criminalize children and adolescents, lower minimum ages of criminal responsibility and impose longer prison sentences. 61. The process is exacerbated by weak rule of law, poor law enforcement, corruption and a generalized fear of retaliation, resulting in crimes going unreported, low numbers of convictions and a profound sense of impunity. That pattern is particularly serious when children and adolescents are subject to State violence, carried out by law enforcement agents or by private security guards acting with the consent or tolerance of government entities. Enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture or arbitrary detention make it particularly hard for 15-13244 15/25