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Both the United Nations Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Security Council have requested that all peacekeeping missions with Protection of Civilians (PoC) mandates develop protection strategies. In order to further this work, a workshop was recently convened at the UN Convention Centre in Addis Ababa with the aim to draft an outline for mission-wide PoC strategies.
Among the hosts of the workshop was the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI). The workshop was the result of an initiative by The United Nations Department for Peacekeeping Operation (DPKO), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Global Protection Cluster, in collaboration with NUPI and the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). From NUPI, researcher Cedric de Coning, visiting researcher Walter Lotze and advisor Mikkel Frøsig Pedersen participated in the workshop.
As a part of the process, participants reviewed the different methods by which UN peacekeeping missions, such as MONUC, UNMIS and UNAMID, have developed protection of civilians strategies.
NUPI has long-standing relations with ACCORD and other actors involved in peacekeeping in Africa through the Training for Peace (TfP) programme. TfP is an international capacity building programme aiming at improved and self-sustaining African civilian and police capacity for peace support operations. The TfP programme and the recent workshop on Protection of Civilians strategies are funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"This workshop was an important step in helping the UN to draft a strategic framework on Protection of Civilians, which will assist missions in the future to develop mission-wide PoC strategies," notes Walter Lotze of NUPI.
Read more:
• The Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI)
• Training for Peace (TfP)
• The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
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