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The Seville Statement on Violence is a statement on violence that was adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain, on 16 May 1986. It was subsequently adopted by UNESCO at the twenty-fifth session of the General Conference on 16 November 1989. The statement, then known as a 'Statement on Violence', was designed to refute "the notion that organized human violence is biologically determined".^[1]

The statement contains five core ideas. These ideas are:

1. "It is scientifically incorrect to say that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors."
2. "It is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behaviour is genetically programmed into our human nature."
3. "It is scientifically incorrect to say that in the course of human evolution there has been a selection for aggressive behaviour more than for other kinds of behaviour."
4. "It is scientifically incorrect to say that humans have a 'violent brain'."
5. "It is scientifically incorrect to say that war is caused by 'instinct' or any single motivation."

The statement concludes: "Just as 'wars begin in the minds of men', peace also begins in our minds. The same species who invented war is capable of inventing peace. The responsibility lies with each of us."^[2]

The following is a list of the scientists who founded the statement:

• David Adams, Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.A.
• S.A. Barnett, Ethology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
• N.P. Bechtereva, Neurophysiology, Institute for Experimental Medicine of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Leningrad, U.S.S.R.
• Bonnie Frank Carter, Psychology, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
• José M. Rodriguez Delgado, Neurophysiology, Centro de Estudios Neurobiológicos, Madrid, Spain
• José Luis Díaz, Ethology, Instituto Mexicano de Psiquiatría, México D.F., Mexico
• Andrzej Eliasz, Individual Differences Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
• Santiago Genovés, Biological Anthropology, Instituto de Estudios Antropológicos, México D.F., Mexico
• Benson E. Ginsburg, Behavior Genetics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, U.S.A.
• Jo Groebel, Social Psychology, Erziehungswissenschaftliche Hochschule, Landau, Federal Republic of Germany
• Samir-Kumar Ghosh, Sociology, Indian Institute of Human Sciences, Calcutta, India
• Robert Hinde, Animal Behaviour, Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K.
• Richard E. Leakey, Physical Anthropology, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
• Taha H. Malasi, Psychiatry, Kuwait University, Kuwait
• J. Martín Ramírez, Psychobiology, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
• Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Biochemistry, Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain
• Diana L. Mendoza, Ethology, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
• Ashis Nandy, Political Psychology, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, India
• John Paul Scott (geneticist), Animal Behaviour, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.A.
• Riitta Wahlstrom, Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland^[2]

1. ^ Suter, Keith (2005). 50 things you want to know about world issues... but were too afraid to ask. Milson's Point, NSW, Australia: Transworld Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86325-503-5. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Seville Statement on Violence, Spain, 1986 (HTML) (English). EDUCATION- Non-Violence Education. UNESCO. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.

3. Adams, David (2005) [1] Introduction to the Seville Statement on Violence

• Full text of the Seville Statement on Violence

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