The Protection of Civilians: An Overview for Senior Leadership Senior Leadership Programme New York 22 July 2015

High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations “Protection of civilians is a core obligation of the United Nations…” “Each and every peacekeeper – military, police and civilian – must pass this test when crisis presents itself.” The commitment of mission leadership … will ultimately define effectiveness. A determined, proactive posture –politically and operationally – must be driven from the top by mission leadership as well as by the Secretariat.

Protection of Civilians Protecting civilians is a pre-existing responsibility of Governments Governments retain the primary responsibility in all cases Peace operations should first support Governments Where unwilling or unable, mandated peacekeepers can act to protect in place of the Government POC is a whole-of-mission effort

The Protection Architecture The Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping Mission-specific mandates The largest 10 peacekeeping missions have POC mandates (95% of peacekeepers) (UNMISS, UNAMID, UNISFA, UNIFIL, MONUSCO, MINUSMA, MINUSCA, MINUSTAH, UNMIL, UNOCI) Political missions with POC-related mandates: UNAMA, UNOCI, UNAMI Child Protection: Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) 9 peace operations with CAAC mandates (UNAMI, UNAMA, UNSOM; MINUSCA, MINUSMA, MINUSTAH, MONUSCO, UNAMID, UNMISS) Mechanism is co-led between SRSG of mission and UNICEF country rep, HQ lead is SRSG-CAAC Women’s Protection: Conflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV) Six peace operations with CRSV mandates and Women’s Protection Advisors (UNMISS, UNAMID, MONUSCO, MINUSCA, MINUSMA, UNOCI) Led in-mission by SRSG, at HQ by SRSG for Sexual Violence in Conflict

Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Child: Anyone under 18 years of age SG reports to the Security Council annually Listing of parties to conflict that commit patterns of grave violations against children Reports commitments made to end grave violations A solution-oriented mandate

Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Child Protection Advisors in peace operations Mainstreaming child protection and training all mission personnel Monitoring and reporting on six grave violations against children Dialogue and advocacy with parties to conflict to end grave violations Strengthening child protection capacity of national counterparts Monitoring & Reporting Mechanism (MRM): SCR 1612 (2005) Six grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict: Recruitment, Abduction, Killing/maiming, Rape/sexual violence, Schools/hospitals attacks, Humanitarian access Listing of parties to conflict in SG’s annual reports on CAAC Negotiation of action plans to end grave violations

Conflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV) “Conflict-related sexual violence refers to incidents or patterns of sexual violence, that is rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of Sexual violence of comparable gravity, against women, men, girls or boys”.

Conflict-related Sexual Violence Women’s Protection Advisers in Peace Operations: Address CRSV concerns at the political level, including through peace agreements; Coordinate implementation of Monitoring, Analysis & Reporting Arrangements (MARA); Facilitate dialogue with parties to the conflict, including government security & law enforcement agencies as well as armed groups; Mainstream CRSV considerations in the work of military, police & civilian components, & build their capacity to address CRSV. Monitoring, Analysis & Reporting Arrangements (MARA): SCR 1960 (2010): Ensure systematic gathering of timely, accurate, reliable & objective information on CRSV; Promote increased & timely action to prevent & respond to CRSV; Inform strategic advocacy, enhance prevention & programmatic responses for survivors; Facilitate dialogue with parties to conflict, (armed group and governmental security institutions) to obtain commitments to prevent and ensure accountability for incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, supporting the development of action plans to implement commitments and monitor their implementation; engaging in and strengthening prevention activities;

Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping Mandate established in 1999: “All necessary means to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, within capabilities and areas of deployment and without prejudice to the host government” First official authorisation to use force apart from self-defence or vague security mandates Authorises force regardless of the source of the threat “Imminent” = Not time-bound Missions limited by resources, but resources must be used strategically, proactively

Protection of Civilians (in Peacekeeping) Operational measures Mission-specific Protection of Civilian Strategies Mission- or UN-wide assessments of risks to civilians Senior and working-level coordination mechanisms

Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping Three Tiers of POC Action Tier I: Protection through political dialogue and engagement Political good offices Mediation Tier III: Building a protective environment Facilitating humanitarian assistance Human rights investigations Police reform Judicial reform Security Sector reform Tier II: Physical protection Deterrence Pre-emption Response Consolidation (Primarily military or police)

POC v. Politics: Common Assumptions Protection of Civilians: Short-term Reactive Conflict contexts Led by Force or Humanitarians Done without Host Government Politics: Medium- to Long-term Planned, deliberative Peacebuilding contexts Led by Political Component Led by / Supportive of Host Government

Protection of Civilians Policy in Peacekeeping First DPKO-DFS Policy for POC Based on 15 years of lessons learned, successes and failures Associated Military Guidelines Police Guidelines under development

Senior POC Advisers Jeffrey Bunger, UMISS Zurab Elzarov, UNAMID Baptiste Martin, MINUSCA Koffi Wogomebou, MONUSCO Begona Gozanlez, MINUSMA