1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act of 2018 . 2. Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to the United Nations, an unprecedented 68,500,000 people around the world are currently forcibly displaced from their homes. This is the highest level of global displacement ever recorded. (2) According to the World Bank, violence and violent conflict, rather than natural disasters, are now the leading causes of displacement worldwide, driving 80 percent of humanitarian needs. The Bank also notes that the same conflicts have accounted for the majority of forcibly displaced persons every year since 1991. (3) According to the World Health Organization, preventable forms of violence kill at least 1,400,000 people each year and cause debilitating physical and mental harm to many others. (4) According to the Global Peace Index 2018, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, violence containment costs the global economy $14,760,000,000,000 a year, or 12.4 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Index also states, Over the last decade, countries with the largest improvements in peace recorded seven times higher per capita GDP growth than those that deteriorated the most. (5) Violence and violent conflict underpin many of the United States Government’s key national security challenges. Notably, violent conflicts allow for environments in which terrorist organizations recruit and thrive, while the combination of violence, corruption, poverty, poor governance, and underdevelopment often enable transnational gangs and criminal networks to wreak havoc and commit atrocities worldwide. (6) According to new research by the University of Maryland and the University of Pittsburgh, exposure to violence increases support for violence and violent extremism. Research increasingly finds exposure to violence as a predictor of future participation in violence, including violent extremism. (7) Since 2002, a body of research has emerged on failed or