CONFLICT resolution should be taught in schools to stem the tide of armed street crime.

That's the message peace campaigner Erinma Bell (pictured) will give to a panel in Manchester looking at ways to tackle the problem.

Ms Bell is the chair of Carisma, a community organisation set up to combat gun crime in Moss Side.

And she is one of a number of campaigners and experts giving evidence to a panel of 'commissioners' set up for a Channel 4 series, The Truth About Street Weapons.

Speaking at Manchester Town Hall today she will call for experts to go into schools to talk to children about how to deal with conflict.

She said: "There is no point us blaming the young people all the time, because we, as adults have contributed to the images of violence they see around them.

"We cannot blame them for the way they have decided to tackle conflict if we have not taught them a more intelligent way to do it.

"There are experts out there. We could send them into schools or get this subject put on the national curriculum."

Explore

She said the government also needed to explore ways of showing young people the fatal consequences of using weapons.

"There are advertising campaigns telling people about the consequences of smoking, but there is nothing to warn about gun or knife crime."

Also giving evidence will be Greg Davis from the United Estates of Wythenshawe, which transformed a disused church into a community centre in Benchill.

Other local experts include senior members of Greater Manchester Police and Geoff Thompson of the Youth Charter for Sport.

The Channel 4 panel is chaired by Fay Selvan, chief executive of the Big Life Group, which runs The Big Issue.

It has also heard evidence from Liverpool, London, Birmingham and Glasgow and will report on its findings to the Government.