This sub-section suggests a simple categorization of actors involved in protection in order to be able to analyze each actor’s role in civilian protection. As this thesis investigates civil society actors in civilian protection, the distinctions proposed are state/non-state and armed/military or unarmed/civilian actors as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Actors in Protection
On the state or inter-state level, national authorities have the primary mandate to protect their civilian population (Bonwick, 2006: 273). Since the state has the monopoly of violence and sovereignty, the state adopted the responsibility to protect its citizens. As mentioned earlier, the revival of collective security encouraged states to give away part of their sovereignty in order to benefit from military alliances (e.g. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)). However, not all collective security organizations engage in armed protection. The OSCE provides, for instance, unarmed ceasefire monitors to conflict areas.
Apart from individual states and regional inter-state organizations, the UN integrated the protection of civilians in its core objectives. Over time, UN peacekeeping missions and their tasks shifted and included increasingly the protection of civilians. Even though UN
Armed/military Unarmed/civilian
State/ inter-state State/army
UN peacekeeping forces Police
International alliances (NATO)
OSCE
Civilian Police UN Peacekeeping Non-state Rebel groups, militia
Self-defense groups
Private military contractors
ICRC, UNHCR, UNICEF, OHCHR UN agencies (IASC)
INGOs (PB, NP, Oxfam, HRW) Humanitarian organizations Civil Society Organizations
peacekeepers (Blue Helmets) are armed, their mandate is based on the principle of consent, impartiality and the non-use of force except in self-defense and in defense of the mandate (see: UN). Every UN peacekeeping mission includes military and civilian bodies. However, the actors mandated to protect civilians have unfortunately become perpetrators in some cases (Jose and Medie, 2015: 521). Particularly UN peacekeeping missions have been accused to inflict sexual violence in Bosnia, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo or Cambodia, and were allegedly participating in disappearances in the Central African Republic (Ibid.).
Apart from the UN peacekeeping missions, the UN Security Council and the Secretary General have an international authority available to them to adopt resolutions and reports on the topic. The specific documents issued by the UN concerning the protection of civilians will be discussed in the next sub-section.
There are an increasing number of non-state actors involved in not only civilian, but also military protection. International humanitarian law imposes responsibilities to both, state and non-state armed groups. However, non-state armed groups often have less knowledge about and less resources to comply with the international bodies of law and their obligations towards civilian populations (Bruderlein, 2001: 222). Additionally, the distinction between combatants and civilians becomes increasingly unclear. Many armed conflicts are not taking place between two clearly defined and uniformed armies, but between armies and non-state armed groups which are more difficult to identify and often live together with civilian populations. But also state actors use increasingly private contractors or affiliated militia whose legal stand and obligations are not easily discernible. This leads to increased risk for civilian populations.
Moreover, self-defense groups and private military contractors can render internal armed conflicts and international conflicts more complex. Questions regarding responsibility, accountability and impunity become increasingly important, but too often remain unanswered. Even though this research does not go into details concerning non-state armed actors, it is important to notice that armed factions that have close relations with the community are to a
lesser extent a threat to civilians, whereas armed factions that are constituted mainly by foreign fighters pose a higher threat to local communities (Zahar, 2001: 110; Svoboda and Pantuliano, 2015: 12).
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have specific protection mandates (UN Internal Displacement Division 2004, cited in Bonwick, 2006: 273). Even though, apart from ICRC, they are part of the UN system, I consider them as non-state actors due to their relative independence from direct state power. The humanitarian cluster system of the OCHA, in which diverse non-state actors participate, attributes the responsibility of the protection cluster to UNHCR.
Apart from the officially mandated agencies, there are many INGOs working in protection. The most important INGOs that dedicate their mission entirely to civilian protection are Peace Brigades International and Nonviolent Peaceforce, both inspired by Gandhi, and are predominantly accompanying local actors, providing international presence and capacity building.
Humanitarian assistance and protection are often stated in the same sentence. In many ways, they are very closely interlinked with one another. Hence, humanitarian organizations are also actors in protection. The notion ‘humanitarian protection’ is very common in the world of humanitarian organizations. However, as the term says, humanitarian agencies and staff are the ones to be protected, contrary to civilian protection, which implies the protection of civilians caught in the conflict. Humanitarian protection tries to balance the risk for the staff and the beneficiaries. However, not all organizations have the same standards and some are even hiring private security companies to protect their convoys, without considering the risk for the local population. When implementing activities, humanitarian organizations make assumptions without testing and verifying them, and hence, increase the risk of adverse effects (Bonwick,
2006: 273). It is crucial for humanitarian organization to think of themselves as a part of the conflict, and consider their impact before taking action.
These are all relevant and important actors to take into account in civilian protection. This research, however, focuses on the role of local civil society. Very often in armed conflicts, civilians are left alone when they need protection, either because the state authorities do not want humanitarians on the ground or because the risk is too high (Bonwick, 2006: 274). Therefore, local civil society is the main actor in protection on the local level. Even though some protection efforts may imply arms, most civil society actors are unarmed. Section 2.3 and 3.3 of this thesis further develop on the role of local civil society in civilian protection.
Many authors writing about community-based protection, self-protection, or civilian protection stress the importance of the affected people and the lack of literature including local agency (Bonwick, 2006; Corbett, 2011; Barrs, 2012; Gorur, 2013; Jose and Medie, 2015; Horst and Sagmo, 2015; Svoboda and Gillard, 2015 to mention a few). Very often, protection is perceived as something provided by outside actors and the affected population is seen as passive, even though they are the first ones to be affected, but also to provide basic protection (Svoboda and Gillard, 2015: 6).
When it comes to the application of IHL by non-state armed groups, training, propaganda and coherence influence the group's compliance to IHL. Lack of training and the fragmentation of armed groups in battalions make it particularly difficult in the Syrian conflict to create a common understanding of IHL principles (Centre for Civilians in Conflict, 2012: 2, 6). Moreover, secular and Islamist propaganda render the cause existential and therefore permit all means, even though under Islamic law civilians are as protected as under IHL (Ibid.: 5)
Unarmed civilians cannot stop massive violence, even UN peacekeepers cannot as we have seen in Srebrenica and Rwanda. Nonetheless, civilian actors can play a crucial role in preventing renewed violence, building trust and gain access to vulnerable populations (Wallis, 2010: 29-31). Effective protection efforts need to start from the community level, building on
the dynamics already in place, then, with the help of outside actors, bringing the local concerns to the level where protection can actually be enacted, be it in the UNSC or at the national or local authorities (Bonwick, 2006: 274). Hence, the links and relationships between all actors are the key to successful civilian protection.