Protection in Armed Conflict

Armed conflict stands as one of the most potent drivers for forced displacement, causing civilian casualties, infrastructure destruction, and the proliferation of explosive ordnance, such as mines, and unexploded ordnance. Moreover, conflicts disrupt public services, undermine the rule of law, and tear families apart. Regrettably, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which forms the bedrock of legal frameworks during conflict, alongside international refugee law and international human rights law, is increasingly disregarded by combatants in modern conflicts. This disregard endangers millions of civilians, sometimes as a deliberate war tactic.

The notion of Protection of Civilians (PoC) constitutes a collective endeavor within the UN to protect those not actively engaged in hostilities. The UNHCR and its partners approach protection in conflict through meticulous conflict and protection analyses. This approach encompasses various strategies aimed at fostering both compliance with IHL by conflicting parties and empowering communities to undertake protective measures.

The fundamental principles of IHL governing the treatment of civilians include:

• Distinction: the obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants,

• Precaution: to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects against the effects of attacks,

• Proportionality: not to cause damage that is excessive in relation to the direct military advantage anticipated.

The centrality of protection underscores the necessity for collective endeavors aimed at mitigating protection risks for affected individuals. As an integral component of these efforts, protection in armed conflict must be conducted in close collaboration with other humanitarian and UN partners while taking into account the humanitarian and protection architecture, particularly within UN missions with a protection mandate.

Conventions 

• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UN General Assembly, A/RES/61/106, Annex I, 13 December 2006 

• Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, UN, 18 September 1997  

• Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (and Protocols) (As Amended on 21 December 2001), UN, 1342 UNTS 137, 10 October 1980 

Geneva Conventions

International Committee of the Red Cross

• Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (First Geneva Convention), 75 UNTS 31, 12 August 1949 

• Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea (Second Geneva Convention), 75 UNTS 85, 12 August 1949 

• Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention), 75 UNTS 135, 12 August 1949 

• Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), 75 UNTS 287, 12 August 1949 

Protocols to the Geneva Conventions

• Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War (Protocol V), UN, 23 November 2003
• Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II) (As Amended on 3 May 1996), UN, 10 October 1980 
• Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), ICRC, 1125 UNTS 3, 8 June 1977 
• Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), ICRC, 1125 UNTS 609, 8 June 1977 

Principles 

• The Paris Principles. Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated With Armed Forces or Armed Groups, UNICEF, February 2007 

ExCom Conclusions  

• No. 94 (LII): Civilian and Humanitarian Character of Asylum (2002) 

Standing Committee Documents 

• Staff Safety and Security Issues, Including Refugee Security,  EC/58/SC/CRP.13, 4 June 2007 

• The Civilian Character of Asylum: Separating Armed Elements from Refugees, Global Consultations on International Protection/Third Track, EC/GC/01/5, 19 February 2001 

• The Security, Civilian and Humanitarian Character of Refugee Camps and Settlements: Operationalizing the "Ladder of Options", EC/50/SC/INF.4, 27 June 2000 

• The Security, and Civilian and Humanitarian Character of Refugee Camps and Settlements, EC/49/SC/INF.2, 14 January 1999 

UNHCR 

• Guidance Note on Maintaining the Civilian and Humanitarian Character of Asylum, December 2018 
• Aide Memoire - Operational Guidance on Maintaining the Civilian and Humanitarian Character of Sites and Settlements, UNHCR & ICRC, July 2018 
• Guidelines on International Protection No. 12: Claims for refugee status related to situations of armed conflict and violence under Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and the regional refugee definitions, HCR/GIP/16/12, 2 December 2016 
• "Protecting People in Conflict and Crisis - Responding to the Challenges of a Changing World", Opening Address: "Humanitarian Space", by Erika Feller, Assistant High Commissioner - Protection, UNHCR (Oxford, 22 September 2009) 
• Handbook for the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Provisional release, December 2007 
• UNHCR Mine Action Operational Framework, September 2005 
• Protection Guidelines Relating to Refugee Security, May 1999 

Other

• Operational Guidelines to the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, UN Secretary-General (UNSG), 2014 

• Statement by the President of the Security Council [made on behalf of the Security Council, at the 6066th meeting, 14 Jan. 2009, in connection with the Council's consideration of the item entitled "Protection of civilians in armed conflict"], (includes "Annex: Protection of civilians in armed conflict : Aide Memoire for the consideration of issues pertaining to the protection of civilians in armed conflict": p. 3-35), UN Security Council, 14 January 2009 

• Civil-Military Guidelines and Reference for Complex Emergencies, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), March 2008 

• Mine Action and Effective Coordination: The United Nations Inter-Agency Policy, UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action, 6 June 2005 

• Gender Guidelines for Mine Action Programmes, UN Mine Action Service, February 2005 

• Guidelines on the Use of Military and Civil Defence Assets to Support United Nations Humanitarian Activities in Complex Emergencies, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), March 2003 

• Civil-Military Coordination Policy, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), 9 September 2002 

• Use of Military or Armed Escorts for Humanitarian Convoys. Discussion Paper and Non-Binding Guidelines, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), 14 September 2001 

UNHCR Toolbox: Protection in Armed Conflict (external link)

Refworld

• UNHCR Protection Manual, Section F: Specific Protection Priorities, Protection of Civilians

UN

• UN Secretary-General Reports on the Protection of Civilians 

• UN Policy on Integrated Assessment and Planning, UNSDG, March 2023

• The Protection of Civilians in United Nations Peacekeeping Policy, May 2023

• Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), UNITAR

• Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, OCHA

• 5 Pillars of Mine Action, UNMAS

Websites

• Convention on Cluster Munitions, CCM/77, May 2008

• Explosive Ordinance Risk Education (EORE) resources

• Protecting civilians from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW), May 2020

• Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)