June 7, 2018 - The Global Peace Index has revealed that the world has become a less safe place. The Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace shows that the state of peace in 92 countries is worse than in the previous year, while in 71 countries it has gotten better. Thus, the negative trend continues for the fourth year in a row.
Montenegro is ranked 58th in this index. The regional countries with a higher position than Montenegro are Slovenia (11), Croatia (27), Albania (52) and Serbia who is ranked 54th, while Macedonia (87), BiH (89) and Kosovo (92) are worse.
As explained in the report, the ranking is affected by factors such as the number of conflicts in which the state is involved and their duration, the number of fatalities, relations with the neighbors, the crime in society, the number of refugees in the population, the rate of committed murders, the probability of violent demonstrations, the military expenses, and the availability of manual firearms. The United States, often referred to as the "leader of the free world", is ranked 121st, and Russia at 154th.
From Iceland to Syria
Stiv Kilelea, the founder and president of the Institute Dojce vele (DW), says that the situation has been aggravated over the past decade, primarily with the Middle East conflict. The worst position on the list is still Syria, and at the bottom is Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya.
The top ten safest places are Iceland, New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, Czech Republic, Singapore, Japan and Ireland. The biggest improvements were recorded by some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Gambia, Liberia, Burundi and Senegal.
"The number of dead on the world's battlefields has increased by 246 percent in the last ten years, the number of terrorist victims by 203 percent," says Kilele. Although Europe is the calmest world region, the condition is disturbed in 23 of the 36 countries that are counted here, especially in Western Europe. The better news is, he says, that 104 nations of the world have lowered military costs compared to GDP, and 115 of them have reduced the number of soldiers.
How much does it cost?
In this year's report, the concept of "positive peace" was introduced, which does not treat peace as a lack of conflict but explores the social structures, factors, and institutions that actively contribute to peace and peacefulness. "Every percentage of improvements in the field of positive peace comes with 1.8 percent of economic growth," says Kilelea.
His institute counts that, apart from the human aspect, the economic costs of conflicts, wars, and violence are enormous - allegedly $2,000 per year per every man on Earth. If we take into consideration the number of people who as of Wednesday, counted by the German Foundation for the World Population (7.627.317.138 people), it is $15.254.634.276.000, or more than $ 15 billion.
Text by Deutsche Welle, on June 6th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
