Protection of civilians

Children walking home from school amid the devastation of war
Idlib, Syrian Arab Republic, April 2022. Children walking back from school. OCHA/Ali Haj Suleiman

When people are caught in a situation of violence or a disaster, they become more vulnerable and often need protection from abuse, violence, coercion and deprivation. 

Member States are responsible for protecting people who live under their control. In situations of armed conflict, all parties to armed conflict, whether States or organized armed groups, must respect and protect civilians, including by taking constant care to spare them in their military operations. 

Since 1999, the Security Council has considered the protection of civilians (PoC) in armed conflict on its agenda. We summarized the impact of this, 20 years on, in our 2019 Building a Culture of Protection: 20 Years of Security Council Engagement on the Protection of Civilians.

OCHA supports the Security Council and wider UN engagement to strengthen the protection of civilians in armed conflict, including by preparing the PoC aide-memoire guiding the Security Council’s approach to the protection of civilians. OCHA is responsible for the UN Secretary-General’s reports and briefings to the Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

OCHA also briefs the Security Council’s Informal Expert Group on protection of civilians on behalf of the humanitarian community, and it engages with Member States, regional organizations and other international stakeholders to advocate protection issues.

During a crisis, humanitarian organizations step in to address people’s protection needs, for instance by  providing safe spaces for women, girls and boys. Humanitarians’ protection efforts aim to reduce and prevent people’s exposure to risks and to ensure respect for the rights of individuals, in accordance with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. Protection is central to humanitarian action, as underlined by the IASC Policy on Protection in Humanitarian Action (2016) and the IASC Principals’ statement on the Centrality of Protection (2013). Affected people themselves are also key to their own protection. 

At the country level, OCHA supports the Humanitarian Coordinator to ensure an effective and coordinated humanitarian response that aims to protect the lives, livelihoods and dignity of affected people, including through advocacy and resource mobilization.

At Headquarters, we help develop inter-agency advocacy, policy and guidance on protection, including through the IASC and the Global Protection Cluster, and build inter-agency capacity on protection. At the Headquarters and field levels, we work with the UN Department of Peace Operations to promote effective and appropriate cooperation on protection where UN peacekeeping operations are deployed.