Collective violence has been defined as the “instrumental use of violence by people who identify themselves as members of a group…against another group or set of individuals, in order to achieve political, economic or social objectives”. Collective violence includes war, terrorism and violent political conflict between or within states, violence perpetrated by states (genocide, torture, systematic abuses of human rights) and organised violent crime such as gang warfare. It may include all categories of violence, be these physical, sexual, psychological, or characterised by neglect or discrimination.

URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2652990/