The Protection of Civilians (POC) Program, launched in December 2017, focuses on issues related to protection of civilians in the context of UN peace operations.
The POC Program seeks to support the UN Secretariat in analyzing the challenges facing peace operations mandated to protect civilians, and in adapting policy and practice to improve the delivery of POC mandates. It also provides a space to gather member states, UN officials from both HQ and field missions, and researchers, in order to build a common understanding of POC in the context of UN peace operations.
Through research, convening and outreach activities, IPI’s POC Program aims to:
IPI produces a variety of issue briefs and policy papers on specific POC challenges, policy issues and country-specific situations. It also convenes different types of forum of discussion in New York and in the field to gather lessons learned and best practices relating to POC.
After 20 years of POC work in UN peace operations, the project will now take stock of the progress made on the ground, both in theory and in practice, highlight remaining challenges, and provide policy recommendations for more tailored, more effective, and smarter POC strategies.
Topics for research in 2020 include the role and added value of the police component of peace operations in protecting civilians, the development of an accountability system for POC, the impact of protection challenges on exit strategies for peacekeeping operations, and the role of special political missions in POC. In addition, IPI plans to analyze community engagement strategies for POC, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people-centered approaches.
In lieu of in-person policy fora and workshops, IPI will rely on virtual convening of representatives from the UN, member states, and civil society, as well as experts, to discuss the main findings of the project’s research and to explore how to improve country-specific POC strategies and address challenges. Informal briefings for member-state representatives will also be organized virtually to disseminate and discuss POC policies, best practices, and challenges in the field.
Community engagement has been recognized as a critical tool to strengthen people-centered approaches to peacekeeping and protection of civilians. Liaising with local populations enables peacekeepers to better identify protection needs, improve early warning, and design tailored and effective protection plans. It is also key to defuse tensions through mediation and dialogue. However, community engagement, when […]
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While most United Nations peace operations are expected to protect civilians from any source of physical violence, they also need to maintain the consent of the host-state to function. How the missions work with, despite, or even against the host state to implement their protection mandates while supporting the host state is the subject of […]
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“When a mission fails to protect civilians, that calls into question the credibility of the entire peacekeeping undertaking and the credibility of the United Nations,” said Valentine Rugwabiza, Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the UN. “We’ve seen that. This is what is at stake.”Geraldine Byrne Nason, the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the UN, agreed, […]
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How COVID-19 and measures to curb its spread have amplified the vulnerabilities of civilians caught in conflict and raised new challenges for protection actors like humanitarian workers, peacekeepers, and human rights defenders was the subject of a May 28th IPI virtual policy forum. Co-hosting the event with IPI were the United Nations Office for the […]
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Contemporary UN peace operations are expected to implement ambitious protection of civilians (POC) mandates while supporting host states through conflict prevention, peacemaking, and peacebuilding strategies. Reconciling these people-oriented POC mandates and the state-centric logic of UN-mandated interventions ranks among the greatest challenges facing peace operations today.This report explores how peace operations implement POC mandates when […]
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“Policing is about interaction, and if you are looking for lasting sustainable peace, then interaction, engagement, conversation, dialogue are very important. It is policing that enables this political process,” said Boniface Rutikanga, a former United Nations peacekeeper and now police adviser to the Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the UN.Mr. Rutikanga was speaking to a […]
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Since first deployed in 1960, United Nations police (UNPOL) have consistently been present in UN missions and have become increasingly important to achieving mission objectives. Since 1999, these objectives have often included the protection of civilians (POC), especially in places like the Central African Republic, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and South […]
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When the Security Council mandated the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone to protect civilians in 1999, there was neither a clear definition of POC (protection of civilians) nor a way to account for action peacekeepers had taken to protect civilians. Over the last two decades, the UN Secretariat and peacekeeping missions in the […]
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The United Nations agendas for Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and for Protection of Civilians (POC) both deal with protecting vulnerable populations. The comparison of these two agendas and opportunities to enhance protection were the focus of a November 1st IPI-Canada roundtable discussion, held under the Chatham House rule of non-attribution.Discussants expressed concern that protection […]
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The G5 Sahel Joint Force was launched in 2017 by Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Chad, and Mali to unite their efforts to address common security threats in the region. In a resolution authorizing the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) to provide operational and logistical support to the force, the United Nations Security Council […]
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The International Peace Institute is an independent, international not-for-profit think tank with a staff representing more than 20 nationalities, located in New York across from United Nations headquarters. IPI is dedicated to promoting the prevention and resolution of conflicts between and within states by strengthening international peace and security institutions. To achieve its purpose, IPI employs a mix of policy research, convening, publishing and outreach.
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