Protection of Civilians Week 2023
- Start date:
- End date:
The sixth edition of the Protection of Civilians (PoC) week took place from 22 to 25 May 2023 at the UN headquarters in New York. It included a series of side events related to issues raised at the annual Security Council Open Debate on PoC, which were held on 23 May, 2023. The Secretary-General’s report on PoC was also presented on the same day. PoC Week was coordinated by Switzerland (who was holding the Presidency of the Security Council in May), Belgium, CIVIC/International Rescue Committee and OCHA.
The week’s events brought together Member States, UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and civil society organizations to discuss key PoC issues and trends, share best practices, and reflect on required policy and normative changes. PoC week sought to give a voice to people affected by armed conflict, as well as a channel to field practitioners to feed into policy discussions. Events were held both in person and in hybrid format.
Background
In 1999, the UN Security Council formally recognized PoC as a matter of international peace and security by adding PoC to its agenda through the Resolution 1265. Since then, the annual Open Debate of the Security Council on this issue has been the opportunity for the UN membership to take stock of the state of PoC, assess tools available to enhance PoC on the ground and adopt several thematic PoC resolutions.
Side event details
Monday, May 22, 2023
8:30-10 EST / 14:30-16 CEST
Conference room 11
UN Peacekeeping at 75: Protection of civilians yesterday, today and tomorrow
On the occasion of PoC Week 2023, and to mark the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping, the UN Department of Peace Operations, the Permanent Mission of Canada, Ghana, and Indonesia to the United Nations, and the International Peace Institute convened a high-level side-event to reflect on the progress, challenges, and future direction of protecting civilians through UN Peacekeeping operations.
10:15-11:45 EST / 16:15-17:45 CEST
Conference room 11
Ensuring protection and responses of all survivors: Gender responsive measures to meet the needs of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence
This side event specifically focused on the intersections between the PoC, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and Children and Armed Conflict mandates in relation to men and boys, including all populations with diverse sexual orientation gender identities and expressions and sex characteristics. The overall objective of the event was to raise awareness and action on the need for an intersectional gender analysis in designing protection of civilians’ strategies with a view to prevent CRSV against all people. UNSC resolution 2467 (2019) emphasizes that men and boys are also targets of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations, including in detention settings and when associated with armed groups. It calls for protection of male victims (adults and boys) through the strengthening of policies that offer appropriate responses to male survivors and challenge cultural assumptions about male invulnerability to such violence. It additionally calls for non-discriminatory access to medical and psychosocial care based on needs, and for male survivors to be included in national relief and reparations programmes, and provided with safe shelter, livelihood support and legal aid as required.
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on children and armed conflict, the Permanent Mission of Colombia, the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom, the Permanent Mission of Switzerland, Permanent Mission of Malta, the Permanent Mission of Norway, the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein, the Permanent Mission of Belgium and All Survivors Project.
12:00-13:30 EST / 18:00-19:30 CEST
Permanent Mission of Poland to the United Nations
Protecting children with disabilities in armed conflict: Reviewing gaps and achievements four years after United Nations Security Council Resolution 2475 (2019)
This event organized by the Permanent Mission of Poland to the United Nations, together with the International Disability Alliance and UNICEF, to mark the 4th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2475 (2019) on protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict, focused on reviewing gaps and achievements in the protection of children with disabilities in the situations of armed conflict. It brought together Member States, United Nations and civil society actors to share new research and analysis on the situation of children with disabilities affected by armed conflict. It also reflected on the progress, challenges, and future direction of protecting children in the situations of armed conflict.
The event was co-sponsored by the United States, New Zealand, France, Human Rights Watch, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
14:30-16:00 EST
Closed roundtable: Protecting civilians in privatized wars: Applied lessons in Private Military and Security Company (PMSC) and mercenary operations
This expert-level closed-door roundtable was organized by the Permanent Missions of Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) and the UN Working Group on Mercenaries.
The event explored key questions to strengthen understanding about the risks of PMSCs and mercenaries to civilians in conflict and consolidate both lessons and recommendations toward better management and mitigation of risks to civilians that the operations or behavior of these actors may cause.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
8:15-9:30 EST / 14:15-15:30 CEST
Conference Room 6
Humanitarian carve outs for UN Sanctions regimes: The impact and implementation of Resolution 2664
The United States and Ireland hosted this side-event on humanitarian carve outs in UN sanctions regimes. The event brought together UN Member States, humanitarian organizations and civil society. It facilitated a discussion on the implications of Resolution 2664 and the practical steps that need to be taken to ensure the resolution’s full and effective implementation. The event featured remarks from the Representatives of the US and Ireland to the United Nations, as well as senior representatives from the UN, ICRC and Concern Worldwide.
10:15-11:45 EST / 16:15-17:45 CEST
Conference room 6
Protecting civilians from Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA)
For the fifteenth consecutive year, the 2023 UN Secretary-General’s report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict highlighted the ongoing protection challenges that civilians face when explosive weapons are used in populated areas. This year the report additionally welcomed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, which was endorsed by 83 states in Dublin, Ireland in November 2022.
This side event convened a focused discussion on EWIPA and the recently agreed declaration, including its significance and purpose, and actions that will be required by Member States to implement the declaration with the goal of better protecting civilians in armed conflict and strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law. This year’s event provided a particular opportunity to highlight the declaration and convene a discussion on the work that is needed to operationalize the declaration’s commitments to drive forward changes in policy and practice.
12:00-13:30 EST / 18:00-19:30 CEST
Permanent Mission of Poland to the UN
Connecting the local to the global: Breaking down silos and strengthening action on attacks on healthcare
The Governments of Poland, Spain, Norway, Canada and the European Union, International Rescue Committee, Safeguarding Health Coalition, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, Geneva Call and Physicians for Human Rights hosted this PoC side event. The event brought together Member States, the United Nations, NGOs and civil society actors to share new research and analysis on the global trends of attacks on health care, discuss national and global good practices to reduce violence and identify ways in which Member States and relevant entities can follow-up on initiatives to better protect healthcare.
15:00-16:30 EST
Conference room 6
Scaling impact: How protection efforts at the local level are driving humanitarian access
In the last 10 years, the level of conflict has increased around the globe. Through the same period, humanitarian access has become further constrained in many conflict contexts, with principled humanitarian action under direct threat. Affected communities’ inability to access assistance and protection continues to drive levels of suffering, violations and abuses in both the immediate and longer term.
Through this event, a range of access-related constraints and their impacts, were examined. Importantly, amidst the overwhelming challenges, this event also shed a light on the important approaches that are being implemented by protection actors to ground and strengthen protection outcomes for civilians impacted by armed conflict. Negotiations, engagement, and advocacy are critical elements to ensuring that not only do humanitarian protection partners have access and can undertake principled humanitarian action, but also, importantly, that communities themselves can access humanitarian, including protection, services.
During the event, speakers highlighted both the specific actions being taken forward across crisis contexts, from Niger to Haiti to Syria, as well as what’s needed to further enable local level action in support of strengthened access and principled humanitarian action.
15:00-16:30 EST
Closed roundtable: Advancing civilian harm mitigation and response in UN Peacekeeping
The Government of the Netherlands, in partnership with the UN Department of Peace Operations, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), and PAX, co-hosted an invite-only in-person workshop on this subject. The event sought to identify and understand good practices and lessons learned by States and regional organizations in their own processes of developing CHM action plans, measures, and/or tools, with the aim of identifying areas of relevance, insight, and traction for UN peacekeeping. In doing so, it would enable a critical conversation on the ways UN peacekeeping missions can advance CHM within their operations.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
8:30-10:00 EST / 14:30-16:00 CEST
Conference Room A
Protecting the environment is protecting civilians: Humanitarian effects of conflict-related damage to the environment and civilian infrastructure
On 25 May, the Governments of Costa Rica, Switzerland, and Viet Nam, in partnership with PAX, the Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx), the UN Mine Action Service, and the International Organization for Migration convened this high-level panel event to discuss the environment, climate, and conflict nexus. The event aimed to address the detrimental impacts conflicts have on civilians and the environment they depend on and the grave consequences for civilians facing the combined impacts of conflict and climate hazards. The event also highlighted prevention, mitigation, and remediation of conflict-related environmental damage as a means of improving the protection of civilians in armed conflict. In doing so, it furthered the discourse on how protecting the environment is indeed protecting civilians, and strengthened calls for a coordinated, coherent response across various protection and environmental actors and entities.
8:30-10:00 EST / 14:30-16:00 CEST
Conference Room 9
Resolution 2417 five years on: Taking stock and looking ahead to prevent future crises
24 May 2023 marked the fifth anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 241 and presented an opportunity through a high-level side event to reflect on implementation. Topics included the progress made, challenges and barriers that remain for action, and solutions that States and the broader international community could collectively work towards to address the long-standing challenge of protecting civilians from the impacts of armed conflict and violence on food security and risk of famine. Representatives of local CSOs, communities, and humanitarian agencies shared how conflict-induced hunger is impacting civilians in the contexts where they live and work. They also shared their perspectives and ideas on what is needed to end conflict-induced hunger.
Concept note.
10:15-11:45 EST / 16:15-17:45 CEST
Conference Room 9
Strengthening protection of civilians through community-led approaches
Conflict-affected civilians and communities are key stakeholders in their own protection. Civilians act to protect themselves, their communities, and others in different ways, including through unarmed practices. They are not only recipients of aid or protection but agents themselves, shaping conflict environments and experiences of violence and safety. Civilian-led protection often happens discreetly and significantly before external support is provided, including in crisis contexts that do not have a peacekeeping presence. Effective civilian protection strategies -- whether from the perspective of a UN peacekeeping mission, formal PoC mandate, member state, UN agency, or NGO -- will need to better understand and support the role individuals and communities play in their own protection if the UN and its partners seek to fulfill the daunting task of protecting civilians.
12:00-13:30 EST / 18:00-19:30 CEST
Conference Room 9
Education in armed conflict: Protection, prevention, and access
Armed conflict often has a devastating impact on children’s access to education in a variety of ways. In numerous conflicts, schools are attacked, looted, and used for military purposes. This side event, organized by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), and the Permanent Missions of Luxembourg, Japan, and Malta, aimed to: 1) identify challenges related to the protection and provision of education in conflict settings; 2) discuss measures that should be taken to protect education from attack and ensure children’s free, equal, and safe access to education in armed conflict; 3) share practical measures and good practices that can be replicated across the globe to better protect and provide education in conflict affected areas; and 4) strengthen intersectional gender analysis of the interlinkages between attacks on schools and other grave violations against children.
Co-sponsors: Child Fund Alliance, Colombia, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), European Union, France, Geneva Call, Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, OSRSG-CAAC, Plan International, Philippines, Save the Children, Switzerland, UNESCO, UNICEF, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
14:30-16:00 EST
Addressing the impact of mis-/disinformation on civilians: An exchange between peacekeeping and humanitarians
The Permanent Missions of Brazil, Germany, and Ghana to the United Nations, the United Nations Department of Peace Operations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Stimson Center, and Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) convened this expert-level event. This workshop was organized in a hybrid format.
This event intended to inform emerging thought and practice on how to better protect civilians and increase their resiliency to online mis- and disinformation and hate speech. Continued dialogue and collaboration between peacekeeping, humanitarians, researchers, and affected communities are essential to effectively understanding and tackling these phenomena. This discussion aimed to bring these expert communities together to exchange experiences, with the shared goal of preventing mis- and disinformation and hate speech both online and offline.