What is protection?

This module

* looks at what 'protection' means

* introduces some of the concepts and tools used in protection work

Session 1 looks at what is included in protection, and at different types of action that humanitarian organisations can undertake to protect people.

Session 2 looks at how the law and other standards can be used in protection.

Session 3 identifies who are the main people and organisations involved in protection work, and their respective roles and responsibilities. It looks at the central role that communities take in protecting themselves and also emphasises why it is important for protection actors to co-ordinate and co-operate.

Session 4 helps participants understand more about vulnerability, introducing the idea of power analysis.

Session 1: What is protection?

This session begins with a simple role play followed by small group discussion and a presentation with visual aids.

Trainer's notes

To deliver this session you will need:

1 to brief your actors for the role play (ask two participants to act it out using the briefing provided)

2 the visual aids (provided on pages 34–7 and in colour at the back of the book)

3 a flip chart and pens

4 copies of Handout 1 – What is protection? (p. 33)

You will also need blu-tak to stick the visual aids to the wall.

Resource materials for trainers

* Handout 1: What is protection?

* H. Slim and A. Bonwick (2005) Protection: An ALNAP Guide for Humanitarian Agencies, London: Overseas Development Institute, Section 1.

Session plan

Begin with the role play. After the role play, use the visual aids provided, and tell participants that:

* Protection is about improving the safety of people, like the woman collecting water. There are two sides to protection – reducing the negative consequences of our actions, and proactively helping people stay safer. This workshop focuses on the latter.

* Humanitarian organisations help people stay safer by reducing risk.

* Risk exists when there is a threat, such as the threat of violence or exploitation, and people are vulnerable because, for example, they are female, are from a certain ethnic group, or because they have to leave their village to get water. The longer the time people are exposed to a threat the greater the risk – for example collecting water four times a day is riskier than collecting it twice a week.

There are three types of threats:

* Violence – deliberate killing, wounding, sexual violence, rape, torture, and the threat of any of these

* Coercion (forcing someone to do something against their will) – forced prostitution, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, forced or compulsory labour, forced displacement or return, restriction of movement, prevention of return, forced recruitment, being forced to commit acts of violence against others

* Deliberate deprivation – destruction of homes, wells, and clinics; preventing access to land or markets; preventing delivery of relief supplies; deliberate discrimination in getting jobs, education, land, or services; illegal 'taxes' or tolls

NGOs try to improve the safety of people by doing one or more of:

* reducing the level of threat

* reducing the level of vulnerability

* reducing the amount of time exposed to the risk

Ask the participants to think about the role play and suggest ways that an organisation might try to protect the woman collecting water. Write up the suggestions on a flip chart. Explain that there are various actions an organisation might take to reduce the threat or reduce vulnerability:

To reduce the threat

* Advocacy: convincing those with power to protect people or getting others to put pressure on them to protect people

* Capacity-building: supporting the authorities to protect civilians

* Presence: using physical presence to deter attacks on civilians (can also reduce time exposed to the risk)

To reduce vulnerability

* Assistance: directly providing services or goods so that people can avoid threats (can also reduce time exposed to the risk)

* Voice: helping people to negotiate their own safety

* Information: providing impartial information to help people make informed decisions about their safety

You can write these six modes of action on a flip chart to form part of the talking wall, and keep referring back to it throughout the training. Pick an example of each mode of action from the participants' suggestions on the flip chart. At this point, and throughout the training, encourage participants to think about appropriateness and risks involved in each type of action.

In the next session we will look at how the law and other standards can be used in protection.

Role play briefing

Characters

* A woman collecting water (props: bucket or water container)

* A man with a gun (props: roll of paper or umbrella)

It is important that

1 the woman mentions how many times a day she has to collect water, as this illustrates how often people are exposed to risk.

2 the man (1) refuses to let her pass, (2) threatens to beat her, and (3) asks her to be his 'friend', as these three acts illustrate the main types of threat.

Suggested dialogue

Woman: Oh no, I have to collect water again, this is the fourth time today, but I must go because my family is desperate and the well in our village is very old and the water not good for drinking.

She meets the armed man.

Man: Stop, you can't come past here. This is our well.

Woman: But that is the well our village uses. It is the only place where we can get water. You must let me pass.

Man: Don't tell me what I must do. This is our well now, stop complaining or I will beat you.

Woman: Please let me pass, my daughter is sick and I need water for her. Please.

Man: Well, let's see, maybe if you come into my hut and you are very nice to me, I will let you have a little water for your daughter.

What is protection?

Protection is about improving the safety of civilians.

Where there is a threat and people are vulnerable they are at risk.

The more time people face the threat, the higher the risk.

Threat + Vulnerability x Time = RISK

Threats include:

* Violence – deliberate killing, wounding, torture; cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; sexual violence including rape; the fear of any of these

* Coercion – (forcing someone to do something against their will) – forced prostitution, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, forced or compulsory labour, forced displacement or return, restriction of movement, prevention of return, forced recruitment, being forced to commit acts of violence against others

* Deliberate deprivation – destruction of homes, wells and clinics; preventing access to land or markets; preventing delivery of relief supplies; deliberate discrimination in getting jobs, education, land, or services; illegal 'taxes' or tolls.

Reducing risk

Non-government organisations (NGOs) try to reduce risk by reducing the threat, reducing the vulnerability, and reducing the time people face the threat. NGOs work in co-ordination with others to do some or all of these:

To reduce the threat

* Advocacy: convincing those with power to protect people or getting others to put pressure on them to protect people

* Capacity-building: supporting the authorities to protect civilians

* Presence: using physical presence to deter attacks on civilians

To reduce vulnerability

* Assistance: directly providing services or goods so that people can avoid threats

* Voice: helping people to negotiate their own safety

* Information: providing impartial information to help people make informed decisions about their safety

Templates for visual aids

These visual aids are for use in Session 1. The visual aids should be placed on a wall where they will remain as a reference point for the duration of the workshop. Copies can be printed from the CD, or the text can be written on flip charts. There are also larger colour versions at the back of the book.

Session 2: Tools for protecting civilians in conflict

This session is an interactive presentation of the key standards and tools for humanitarian protection.

Trainer's notes

To deliver this session you will need:

1 copies of Handout 2: International standards for civilian protection (p. 44)

2 blu-tak to stick up the poster (a large version of Handout 2 – available in colour at the back of the book).

It is also advisable to provide basic information on the standards and principles listed here for participants to refer to in future. Shortened or simplified versions of many of these documents are available on the Internet, including on the sites of ICRC, OCHCR, UNHCR, and other international organisations.

If you are facilitating this session you should have a basic understanding of these standards and principles to help you explain them and answer questions from participants. In many conflict contexts, participants are very well informed and have lots of opinions about the gap between standards and reality. The trainer will need to be aware of sensitive and controversial areas and be prepared to handle them.

Below is a very brief summary of the standards and principles for trainers to refer to when they are presenting the poster and guiding discussion. It is not intended as a script for the trainer as it is quite long.

International and regional declarations and conventions on human rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is the foundation of human rights. It is a declaration which was followed and complemented by two conventions:

* The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) protects the civil rights and liberties of individuals from violations by the state authorities. It includes the rights to freedom of movement and the right to equality before the law. States have the duty to ensure these rights are fulfilled and not to violate them. In times of war or emergency, states can choose to derogate from (to suspend) certain of these rights. However, there are some that are so important that even in times of emergency, governments have to uphold them.

These are:

• the right to life

• the right not to be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading manner

• the right to freedom of thought and religion

• the prohibition of slavery

* The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (1966) requires that states take measures to ensure the well-being of each individual. It includes the rights to education and to health.

There are also several regional conventions which have been agreed to reinforce these international rights and to apply them to specific regional contexts. These include the African Charter on Human Rights (1986), The European Convention on Human Rights (1950), and the American Convention on Human Rights (1978).

There are several thematic conventions which deal with specific aspects of human rights. These include:

* The Convention against Torture and all forms of Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (1987)

* The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (1981)

* The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), which also has an optional protocol on children in armed conflicts (2000), which prohibits the recruitment or participation in conflict of children under 18 years old

* The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (1951)

There are committees to which states must periodically report their progress towards ensuring rights are respected and fulfilled. There are Committees on the Conventions on Civil and Political Rights, Rights of the Child, and the Conventions against Discrimination against Women and against Torture. States have to submit reports to these Committees approximately every four years. States can also submit complaints against another state to these committees, and individuals and NGOs can submit complaints to the African Commission on Human Rights. There is a big gap around sanctions against states which violate human rights. Committees can condemn states but there are no mechanisms to punish them.

International and regional instruments for protecting refugees and internally displaced people

* The Refugee Convention was agreed in 1951. According to the Convention, a refugee is someone who has fled their country and who has crossed an international border, due to persecution. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is responsible for promoting that states sign and implement the Convention. The Convention sets out the rights of refugees and the responsibilities of host countries. Among these are the right to seek asylum in another country and to have one's case examined by a competent authority. For those who are accepted as refugees, they have the right to receive the same treatment as the host community – with access to education and freedom of movement, for example. The most important article in the Convention concerns the right to 'non-refoulement' – this means that a country cannot send someone back to a place where they would risk harm or death. Even in war when neighbouring countries receive large numbers of refugees, it is forbidden to close the borders to new refugees.

* The OAU Convention (1974) applies the 1951 Convention to the African context. It expands the definition of refugees to include people who have fled their homes due to war and conflict and not just due to individual persecution.

* Internally displaced people (IDPs) are people who have fled their homes for the same reasons as refugees but who have not crossed an international border. Because IDPs are not protected by refugee law, the UN set out the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. These principles are drawn from human-rights and refugee law principles. They are not legally binding but they do have a considerable authority and some countries have taken the step of integrating them into their national law. They set out standards for the assistance and protection of IDPs during displacement, return, and reintegration, according to principles of dignity, voluntariness, and access to impartial information.

International humanitarian law

* The Geneva Conventions are the basis of international humanitarian law (IHL) and apply during war. There are four Geneva Conventions and two additional protocols. The 4th Geneva Convention concerns the protection of civilians during war. A civilian is someone who does not take part in the hostilities – and combatants are prohibited from targeting them. The 2nd protocol concerns rights and responsibilities during internal (as opposed to international) armed conflicts.

* War crimes are grave violations of international humanitarian law, including rape, recruitment of children, violence targeted against civilians, the taking of hostages, and blocking or targeting aid workers or supplies.

* Individuals who commit war crimes can be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which was created in 2002 by the Rome Statute. The Court has jurisdiction over war crimes, genocides, and crimes against humanity that have been committed since 2002. Crimes against humanity can include those committed outside conflict and are violations of human rights which are grave, widespread, and systematic. The court is complementary to national courts – it can prosecute cases that states are unable or unwilling to prosecute in their national courts. Proceedings against an individual can be initiated by a state, or by the UN Security Council, or by the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC.

The UN Charter and other UN documents and resolutions

* The UN Charter is the treaty which established the UN in 1945. It has the highest status of all the international conventions. The charter has two objectives:

• Maintaining peace and security through a system of collective security

• Promotion of the social and economic advancement of all people, through the respect of human rights and co-operation between states.