A/67/230 A. Climate change and natural disasters 90. Climate change and natural disasters have a serious impact on human development and economic progress, contributing to the fragility of communities, stretching social services and support systems, and generating high levels of stress in communities and families. When associated with severe food insecurity or water scarcity, this situation may generate serious levels of social unrest, compromising children’s well-being and placing them at heightened risk of neglect, injury and abuse. 91. Uncertainty associated with displacement, reduced options for escaping hardship and pressing needs to ensure survival and generate family income are some important factors behind violence, psychosocial distress, sexual abuse and the economic exploitation of children. Weakened protection in times of disaster, such as floods or earthquakes, may increase children’s vulnerability to abandonment, sale or trafficking, and place adolescents at increased risk of recruitment into gang activity and urban violence. B. Armed and community violence 92. Over the recent past, the boundaries between political, criminal and intimate violence have become increasingly blurred, provoking fear, insecurity and harm in families and in society at large. Children are particularly vulnerable to these intertwined forms of violence, both as victims and witnesses. 93. An estimated 526,000 people die violently every year; in the large majority of cases, in non-conflict settings. 20 Young males are at high risk of becoming the victims of homicide owing to their participation in street fighting, street crime, gang membership, possession of arms and other violence-prone activities. 21 Women and girls are predominantly targeted by intimate and gender-based violence and in many nations family-related homicide is the major cause of female deaths. 94. Poor rule of law and weak law enforcement performance facilitate the use of small arms, which in turn is associated with higher levels of homicide and organized crime and paves the way to a culture of impunity and increased levels of violence. 95. Lethal violence and lack of security also compromise human development, being associated with higher levels of poverty and hunger, lower primary education enrolment and higher infant mortality rates. 22 This pattern compromises the safeguard of children’s safety and well-being, contributes to increased levels of domestic violence, and may disrupt access to health services, education and social support, deepening children’s vulnerability and deprivation. 96. Children from disadvantaged communities are attractive targets for organized criminal activities. 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, to carry out petty crime, to beg on the streets or to become involved in other exploitative activities. At the same time, for young people lacking genuine educational and economic opportunities and living in socially excluded and __________________ 20 21 22 22 Geneva Declaration Secretariat, Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011, p. 1. UNODC, Global Study on Homicide (2011), p. 12. Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011, p. 146. 12-45164