Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia
Broader research on nonviolent action points to the spontaneous and diverse nature of nonviolent actors and the nonviolent action they deploy. As noted by many UCP scholars and practitioners, community-level UCP initiatives often emerge from local actors simply trying to adapt and reduce violence in their communities without any pre-emptive support from specialist NGOs. We refer to such local action as “spontaneous UCP”: community-level protection activities carried out by local actors spontaneously in response to local conditions, and not necessarily with support of specialist NGOs. Consequently, the project explored the emergence of spontaneous UCP by local actors and documented and analysed their attempts to create “safe spaces” in Colombia, Myanmar, and South Sudan. Working collaboratively between University of Winchester researchers, and in-country co-investigators (Co-Is), comparative data collection and analysis were carried out in an attempt to better understand how spontaneous instances of UCP occur in the three chosen contexts; what strategies/ networks these actors have developed to broaden their UCP activities; and how the context shapes the emergence of UCP activities.
Afrocolombian communities in Nariño’s pacific coast using football as a (Spontaneous) UCP strategy.
RESEARCH TEAM
The project team consisted of researchers from the Centre of Religion, Reconciliation and Peace (CRRP), which worked closely with researchers from in-country Co-investigators; Organisation for Nonviolence and Development (ONAD) in South Sudan, Religions for Peace Myanmar (RfP-M) and Rodeemos el Diálogo – Embrace Dialogue (ReD) in Colombia (see below):
The CRRP led the project with Prof. Mark Owen as Principal Investigator (PI) and Dr. Andrei Gomez-Suarez and Dr. Luke Abbs as Co-Investigators (Co-Is).
Prof. Owen as principal investigator led the overall project and led fieldwork in Myanmar. Prof. Owen is an expert on religious peacebuilding and has extensive experience in engaging in fieldwork in conflict zones and conducting project evaluations, including in Myanmar. Dr. Gomez-Suarez as Co-I managed field work in Colombia where he has explored reconciliation and peacebuilding and has extensive experience in conducting fieldwork, and engaging in arts-based research dissemination. Dr. Abbs has regional expertise of Sub-Saharan Africa and as Co-I managed fieldwork in South Sudan. As an expert on the use of nonviolent resistance during armed conflict, Dr. Abbs was the academic lead and supported academic dissemination and interpretation of findings across all three cases.
Our in-country Co-Is played a vital role in data collection; helping us to identify nonviolent actors that engage in spontaneous UCP outside of intensive fieldwork conducted by investigators from the CRRP, and in logistics; setting up meetings, focus groups and interviews, facilitating access to researchers, and supporting arts-based initiatives by organising research dissemination events.
The Organisation for Nonviolence and Development (ONAD) has been working in South Sudan for over two decades and has extensive experience in collaborating with NGOs and research initiatives. The CRRG recently collaborated with ONAD, assessing and conducting fieldwork on the impact of United States Institute of Peace initiatives in South Sudan.
Religions for Peace Myanmar (RfP-M) have significant experience of carrying out peacebuilding and reconciliation work across Myanmar, have previously collaborated with the CRRP and have worked extensively in Rakhine, Central Myanmar, Kachin, Chin state, and Kayin.
Rodeemos el Diálogo (ReD) have extensive experience of conducting and supporting peacebuilding initiatives, and have previously worked in the Catatumbo region (supporting the work of Mesa Humanitaria del Catatumbo in opening up political space) and Nariño.
Community Action Boards in northern Nariño use dialogue to shape “Coexistence Contracts” as a (Spontaneous) UCP
Indigenous communities in central Nariño are creating a network of spiritual sites as a (Spontaneous) UCP strategy that includes the territory
The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca
The social, political and armed conflicts that persist in the Bajo Cauca subregion of Antioquia (Colombia) have caused peasant and indigenous communities to develop their own protection mechanisms to confront the attacks suffered by their leaders at the hands of legal and illegal armed actors present in the territory. These protective actions have been linked with the Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia (PSG), a platform of social and community organizations dedicated to strengthening internal community processes of self-protection and dialogue with the authorities responsible for guaranteeing safe conditions for the work of human rights defenders.
This research project systematized the experience of the PSG with the Senú indigenous people and peasant communities of the municipalities of Cáceres, El Bagre and Tarazá, as a mechanism for the unarmed protection of civil society that is contributing to the prevention of risks emanating from violent actions in the territory. The project identified factors that have influenced the success or failure of the strategies implemented by the PSG and the local communities, and has contributed to the production and dissemination of knowledge about collective unarmed protection mechanisms.
RESEARCH TEAM
Astrid Torres Ramírez, Corporación Jurídica Libertad, Colombia (principal investigator)
The Senú indigenous people of the Almendros 2 reservation in El Bagre, one of the municipalities hardest hit by armed violence in Colombia, tell how they have been organizing to resist armed groups and remain in their ancestral territories.
Project Website
Publications, posters, podcasts, photos, and more.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
The situation for social leaders, peasant leaders, human rights defenders, and indigenous authorities in Bajo Cauca, Antioquia, is alarming. The communities of this region are trapped in the middle of a social, political and armed conflict that is worsening. This is due to the territorial advance of armed groups who seek control of their territories, economies such as drug trafficking and illegal mining (not including traditional artisanal mining), and the presence of megaprojects. These circumstances have increased the risk for social leaders who, hand in hand with their communities, have had to face threats to their territories and lives. The limited presence of the State and the lack of basic services such as health, education, and housing have made the situation even worse.
The framework of impunity, in which the various attacks and patterns of crime have taken place, has generated a climate of fear and mistrust in the population, who live in constant fear of being a victim in their own territories. Human rights violations, attacks on social leaders, gender-based violence, forced disappearances, homicides, threats, and even extrajudicial executions continue to be reported in the subregion.
Peasant and indigenous organizations have therefore taken the initiative and have developed and implemented a series of self-protection measures to protect the life of their communities and their permanence in their territories. These measures include the creation of early warning systems to detect the presence of legal or illegal armed groups and to prevent the occurrence of attacks against the community, the creation of indigenous guards, the organization of walking tours to delimit and protect the territory, so-called word circles to share experiences, humanitarian shelters, and women’s committees, among others. This, together with spaces where peasant leaders and indigenous authorities can meet and train, have allowed them to respond to the threats and to protect themselves despite the absence of the State.
The organizations have also established alliances with other communities and civil society organizations to strengthen their response capacity. The have created solidarity, support and communication networks between the different communities, established evacuation routes in case of emergency, and some platforms such as the PSG have provided psychosocial support and have facilitated political advocacy work with government entities and the international community. Through these self-protection measures, peasant and indigenous communities are seeking to guarantee the safety and integrity of their members.
Within indigenous communities, strategies aimed at strengthening their protection, culture, ancestry, and knowledge are of high importance. They are based on the spiritual relationship of their communities with the land and the legacy and ancestral knowledge of the elders of the Senues, Embera Chamí, and other indigenous peoples, as a way to protect identities and to confront the violent actions of legal and illegal armed actors, who are present in the territories and commit serious violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law. Their unarmed civilian protection strategies are based on their own forms of indigenous governance and their own protection mechanisms such as the indigenous guards and the word circles. Self-governance has become a significant method of unarmed civilian protection for indigenous communities, since it enables them to exercise control and organize the order and defense of their territory and their common goods, to preserve culture, ancestry, and spirituality, to provide justice and education, to exercise the right to autonomy, to defend their rights as historical peoples, and to protect life and integrity. Based on their self-determination and autonomy, they make decisions in accordance with their culture, norms, practices, and customs in the face of humanitarian crises and the risks they face.
Given the serious humanitarian situation in Bajo Cauca, Antioquia, national and local authorities need to urgently take concrete measures to protect the communities and guarantee their fundamental rights. It is necessary to give special attention to the victims of the conflict, to investigate and punish those responsible for human rights violations, and to implement public policies that promote the sustainable development of the region while taking into account peasant organizations’ and ethnic communities’ demands and ideas.
In view that the State has so far failed to regulate the violence or to establish routes to protection, it should now enforce and implement changed collective protection models, which are not based on militarization and which recognize the experiences of communities and organizations (such as decree 660 of 2018 “Comprehensive Security and Protection Programme for Communities and Organizations in the Territories), and develop further safety provisions.
This research contributes to knowledge on successful unarmed civilian protection practices and improves those practices that have proven to be less effective. It shows that, by collecting and analyzing information on different self-protection strategies and measures, patterns and trends can be identified that contribute to a greater understanding of community safety systems. In this way, a more comprehensive and effective approach can be developed to protect the population in emergency situations. Furthermore, by continuing to link and systematize diverse experiences, memories, and forms of collective action, unarmed civilian self-protection practices can be improved, ensuring that the best practices are implemented and adapted to the specific needs of each community. This translates into greater preparedness to face armed conflicts and other risk situations, which in turn can save lives and reduce material damage.
NEWS
More information about the research team’s engagement event in 2024 is available here.
More information about the research team’s fieldwork in 2023 is available here.
Visualising early warning and preparedness in civilian protection: Investigating local vernaculars of community adaptations to insecurity
Using three field research sites in South Sudan, this research investigated Early Warning as understood, communicated and interpreted by local communities. Early Warning is a fundamental aspect of Civilian Protection in response to threats from types of violence (political, criminal and cattle raiding) perpetrated by both state and non-state groups. Steered by two South Sudanese field researchers with excellent peacebuilding and humanitarian networks, the project engaged a semiotic approach to investigate symbols and signs in Early Warning messaging, and how these are diffused, amplified and received in areas of low literacy where communication is mostly non-textual and sometimes non-verbal. This methodology also provided a suitable bridge for local perceptions and understandings to inform legal, training and policy frameworks using our existing networks. This research builds on the PI’s previous South Sudan fieldwork, and his research projects exploring local Early Warning and protection mechanisms to strengthen accessing and acting on such information. Our research is based on the premise that although multiple international frameworks exist, there are religious, cultural and tribal practices and perspectives which are highly relevant, organically produced and actionable. However, they have few formal links to policy statements and conventions, and remain under-studied.
Men in South Sudan illustrating the use of grasses tied together to convey a specific symbolic meaning. When the heads of the grasses are tied together, it symbolises a clash (that there will be fighting). When the heads of the grasses are apart, as the man in the middle demonstrates with his hands, it symbolises that violence will be avoided.
Research Team:
Chas Morrison, Coventry University, UK (principal investigator)
Diria Vicky Thomas, Community Aid for Relief and Development, South Sudan (co-investigator)
Haji Elias Hillary, Lomore Development Organization, South Sudan (co-investigator)
Research Findings:
This research project investigated cultures and practices of early warning and conflict preparedness among ethnic groups in different regions of South Sudan, through a semiotics lens. Group meetings, interviews and audio-visual materials were captured across 3 locations outside Juba city: in Central Equatoria; in Malakal, Upper Nile state; and in Yambio, Western Equatoria State. We investigated and recorded examples of signs and symbols used for communicating, for preparing, and for protecting. There are established mechanisms to avoid conflict, to postpone it, to negotiate or to call for it, and to defend one’s community using both practical and occult methods. This messaging and signing has a high implicit meaning, and is often opaque or misinterpreted by outsiders; the semiotic meaning has a clear in-group target and is not designed to be widely understood. Practices are very culturally bound, and often specific to certain tribes. Signs and symbols are shared within a specific group, and are then exclusionary with regards to the out-group. The semiotic functions support in-group cohesion and identity, which is particularly important in recent years with the receding of state authority and security.
We have audio-visual recordings of many of these practices, and group discussions regarding others:
Drawing symbols and designs on the ground with spears or spikes
Drumming to alert, convey messages (3x to fight, 4x for death).
Songs with concealed meaning, blowing horns
Drawings with ash on dwellings, ground or trees (protective circles, arrows, crosses etc).
Reeds & grasses tied in specific ways: if tied together =>conflict, if separate =>no conflict.
Cuttings of plants or positioning stones to indicate directions: (3 stones to show a place is dangerous and abandoned)
‘Tele-oor’ -hand whistling as an alert system.
Elder women spiritual protection: fasting and praying for husbands/sons for days. They don’t eat or wash, but sing, dance and serve food to males This protects the fighting men.
Boundary markers on ground: if enemy cross this, it means declaration to fight
Use of spiritual curses against individuals or groups (fighting is not wrongful, but not following fighting rules is wrongful and should be spiritually punished)
In some tribes, women watching the combat, may come and lay on an injured man to protect him. He can then no longer be attacked. This is also apparently used in preventing domestic violence.
Revenge is important and permitted, but along strict demarcated lines
Women, elders & children hide; young men armed with spear or bow & arrow, or small arms if they have them
Women prepare packed lunch, sometimes carry and store weapons for the combatants
Youth pass through legs of standing elders, to receive blessings
Some tribes (Jur, Balanda) women also fight
Move livestock to safety, and hide or bury any valuables.
Symbols drawn on ground used to lure enemy for ambush
Spiritual power is inherited, not miraculous, and used only by key individuals in a community
Defence against insect attack (locusts, red ants etc, using ash circles and spiritually protected spaces).
Defence against harmful ‘witch animals’: half human, half beast. This is distinct to armed groups, but the protection operates in a similar way.
Ancestor power: invoking curses, protection etc.
Chase away attackers using wild animals (bees, snakes), can cause bombs to be dropped in the wrong places.
Blessed amulets that deflect bullets
Blessed Charcoal and saliva mixture, to purify and protect people and particular locations
Cursed animal skins for hanging above doorways and crossroads (also used against Covid). These harms and disorient any armed groups attacking the area.
Cursed water for blindness. Invading attackers can no longer see, and will go the wrong way.
Ash on women’s forehead if husband has died, to symbolise her loss and purification needs.
These signs and cultures may appear mysterious and irrational to outsiders. They conflate different threat types, of both secular and spiritual nature: armed violence, cattle raiding, insect infestation, diseases, spiritual threats such as ghosts and spirits, and natural hazards like drought, flood and bush fires. Preparation for fighting, or any other threat, is ritualistic and culturally bound. There are differences across tribal groups of such practices, but they tend to share some similar principles; we found that the cultural self-protection practices tend to be ritualistic, strictly hierarchical and divided along gendered lines. Many respondents mention the importance of ancestor power, and the select individuals who harness and wield it. Ancestor power can be employed for warding off danger and threats through ritualistic means, performing protection spells and incantations, or strengthening combatants for armed warfare.
Overall, these symbols, signs and incantations provide a framework for the ritualised, performative aspects of hand-to-hand fighting. Local civilian self-protection mechanisms not well understood or acknowledged by formal peacekeeping actors or other authorities. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these practices are becoming more prevalent, not less, due to the withdrawing of state power and the reversed development apparent in the country after years of war. Thus, tribal identities are becoming more embedded, and with that, the cultural practices that revolve around conflict and local level warfare. Communities report good results from UCP actors such as Nonviolent Peaceforce, but they tend not to share the wider UCP aim of avoiding conflict altogether. Instead, they tend to see it as a phenomenon to be managed, performed and interpreted along established cultural lines that seemingly allow some level of violence, as long as this is carried out within defined parameters and follows customary practice. That is, violence may one of several outcomes, but it not necessarily to be avoided as a goal in itself. Our respondents suggest that preparing for non-violence is not a specific approach in itself; it will be implemented if that seems the best thing to do, rather than as a moral goal. Otherwise, violence is reportedly planned for, implemented, mitigated, and recovered from. Unfortunately, much violence of recent years has instead been instigated for criminal and political ends, and does not adhere to traditional rules and limitations for armed engagement. Gender divisions are very marked and there are strict gender roles and identities. Communities discuss the chain reactions of cattle raiding, and revenge attacks linked to honour. The spread of guns has significantly altered the dynamics of combat, and increased the numbers of casualties and injuries.
We recommend that the cultural salience of these practices should be better acknowledged and addressed with sensitivity, to improve support to protection of civilians and other mechanisms for local human security. Low-tech low-literacy practices are a firmly established intrinsic part of life, and reportedly becoming more salient in identities. The centrality of these cultural practices and belief systems needs to be understood and engaged.
A bombed school, still functioning, in Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan. It speaks of resilience and fortitude.
Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned
This project investigated and sought to strengthen the extraordinary capacity of Colombian communities to navigate the complex conflicts that threaten their security. Using a Participatory Action Research approach, which conducts research with rather than on communities, we collaborated with grassroots organisations and trained community researchers in three diverse communities in the Pacific region of South-West Colombia: i) the predominantly Afro-Colombian port city of Buenaventura; ii) mestizo coca growers based in and around the town of Lerma; and iii) members of an indigenous coffee-growing cooperative in Caldono, Toribio, Santander de Quilichao and Bolivar municipalities.
Through an extended engagement with these communities, and utilising a variety of ethnographic, archival and participatory research methods including the use of Participatory Video, the project aimed to:
Document and analyse the diverse experiences, initiatives and infrastructures of Unarmed Civilian Protection in Colombia’s Pacific region;
Identify and disseminate lessons for effective Unarmed Civilian Protection at a regional, national and international level;
Strengthen community capacity for self-analysis and project collaboration through training in participatory research.
The overarching goal of the project was to facilitate an exchange of knowledge and experiences which enhances community capacities for UCP in the region and beyond.
The key findings of our project include:
The key roles played by women and young people in the study communities in prompting initiatives to increase community security;
The ability of communities to navigate and adapt to hybrid political orders, where social life is organised in parallel to the centralised state;
The centrality of the concept of Juntanza (togetherness) to community-level UCP initiatives;
Community-level conceptualisations of (in)security;
The possibilities of participatory video as a method for researching UCP.
RESEARCH TEAM
Juan Mario Díaz, University of Sheffield, UK (principal investigator)
Simon Rushton, University of Sheffield, UK (co-investigator)
Arlene B. Tickner, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia (co-investigator)
Jesús Alfonso Flórez López, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Colombia (co-investigator)
Natalia Campo, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Colombia (co-investigator)
Adrián Alzate, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Colombia (co-investigator)
Corporación Memoria y Paz (CORMEPAZ) (project partner)
Central Cooperativa Indígena del Cauca (CENCOIC) (project partner)
Escuela Agroambiental El Arraigo – Comunidad del Lerma (project partner)
Pastoral Social Popayán (project partner)
PROJECT OUTPUTS
Short Film: Minga This film explores the history and meaning of a community-based socio-cultural and political practice known as Minga, an indigenous form of protest and resistance. The film looks at Minga in the context of armed conflict through the experiences of resistance of the Nasa indigenous communities in the department of Cauca, Colombia. It was created by a group of local researchers from the Indigenous Community of Caldono, Resguardo San Lorenzo, Ancestral land Sath Tama Kiwe in 2023.
Short Film: Safe in Our Home
This documentary explores the potential of local semilleros (seedbeds) in facilitating community-based research on strategies for the protection of unarmed civilians and wider issues of (in)security. The documentary was created by two students at Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) in Colombia, Santiago Hernandez and Manuela Romero, who presented it as their final year project under the supervision of Dr Natalia Campo (Co-Investigator on the Creating Safer Space project).
Publication on Participatory Action Research
Semillero de Investigacion IAP (Spanish) Participatory Action Research Semillero (English) This publication shares a set of tools and techniques that were employed in conducting Participatory Action Research (PAR) with three communities in southwestern Colombia, and provides a helpful guide for community-based and academic researchers who are interested in using PAR.
In February 2022, a group of Colombia- and Sheffield-based researchers and grassroots organisations in the region came to visit CENCOIC coffee warehouse in Popayan, Cauca. This was part of a three-day workshop, which led to the development of the project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”.
Members of CENCOIC and research team of the University of Sheffield, Feb 2022
Meeting with the local researcher of CORMEPAZ and academic partners in Colombia to discuss training and capacity-building opportunities in Buenaventura in July 2022
Cultural event organised by CORMEPAZ in defence of the human and territorial rights of the community of Barrio Lleras, Comuna 6, Buenaventura, in July 2022.
Getting ready! This was a two-day workshop with academic and non-academic partners (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO), Pastoral Social Popayán, Comunidad de Lerma, Cencoic, Cormepaz and Sheffield University) associated to the project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned” in the UAO, Cali, 21-22 July 2022. The purpose of this workshop was to strengthen the partnership and listen to the partners’ views and expectations in relation to this project.
Exploring Community Perceptions and Coping Strategies on Violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar
The emergence of the concept of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) in recent years has generated an interest in documenting different case studies of civilian self-protection strategies. This research project focused on Myanmar. Decades after its independence, the country’s population still lives under constant threats of violence in the context of both state-sponsored conflict and inter-communal conflict. This project offers a glimpse into the nation’s experience by investigating the experiences of people in Rakhine state.
Different ethnic communities living in central and northern Rakhine have been exposed, to varying degrees, to diverse forms of violence. In the span of two decades, there were at least three crises that sparked violent incidents across the region: the 2012 sectarian conflict between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine; the 2016- 2017 violent campaign against the Rohingya; and the frequent armed tensions between Myanmar’s armed force, the Tatmadaw, and the Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of an ethnic insurgency group, the United League of Arakan (ULA). These crises have never truly been reconciled but linger as the drivers to violence in the region. Different ethnic communities are exposed to violence in different ways.
Against this background, this project sought to understand the Rakhine people’s precarious journey of living in contexts of violence with different powerful actors. The project focused on three key areas of research: 1) civilian engagement with/disengagement from authorities, either military or ethnic armed groups; 2) civilian strategies for protection from violence; and 3) networks or infrastructures offering civilian protection.
The article draws upon fieldwork in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to analyse the relationship between ordinary people and competing authorities during armed conflict. In particular, the paper investigates the sources of agency that enable civilians to engage with armed actors, for instance, to ensure their own protection.
Drawing by a research participant in Myanmar, describing life before the conflict. More drawings can be viewed at the online Creating Safer Space 360° Exhibition.
Mapping and Responding to Vulnerability through Nonviolent Collective Actions in Buenaventura, Colombia
On Colombia’s Pacific Coast, Buenaventura is a region of majority Afrodescendent and indigenous people, shaped by a long history of civilian resistance. It is one of the regions that has been most deeply impacted by the armed conflict. Currently it houses Colombia’s largest port, yet the economic gains have not been shared with its inhabitants, wherefore young people are more easily recruited into the armed conflict. Because of the long trajectory of violence, it was one of the regions prioritised in the 2016 Peace Accords. However, the implementation has fallen short. This has left communities to survive in the midst of an escalating social and armed conflict, resulting from the actions of armed groups and exclusionary policies that increase their collective vulnerability to harm.
The specific aims of this research project were to:
Map vulnerability to physical harm of Afro-descendent and indigenous communities in Buenaventura, Colombia.
Examine how community members experience this vulnerability while navigating their specific geographical contexts.
Explore ways in which community members have built strategies collectively to respond to and mitigate community and individual vulnerability.
The Humanitarian Space Puente Nayero, Buenaventura
RESEARCH TEAM
Enrique Chimonja, FOR Peace Presence, Colombia (principal investigator)
Manuel Müller, FOR Peace Presence, Colombia (principal investigator)
Kati Hinman, FOR Peace Presence, Colombia (co-investigator)
In order to achieve Aim 1 (“Map vulnerability to physical harm of Afro-descendent and indigenous communities in Buenaventura, Colombia”) we conducted community workshops and mapping exercises in 6 communities:
The Afrodescendent community of La Esperanza;
The Afrodescendent women’s collective AINI of the Naya River;
The indigenous community Santa Rosa de Guayacán;
The Afrodescendent community of the Puente Nayero humanitarian space;
The LGBTQIA2S+ and Afrodescendent community of Punta Icaco humanitarian space;
The indigenous community of Valledupar.
These workshops focused on their collective identity and the impact of violence on their lives and the different actors that operate in their territories and influence violence. People worked in groups to make maps or representations of their communities and talk about the assets and vulnerabilities within their communities.
In order to achieve Aim 2 (“Examine how community members experience this vulnerability while navigating their specific geographical contexts”) we conducted focus groups with different sub populations to understand how people navigate violence and keep themselves safe at different intersects of identity:
Rural Afrodescendent women;
Urban Afrodescendent women;
Rural indigenous women;
LGBTQIA+ young people;
Urban men;
Rural young people;
Social leaders and human rights defenders.
Research participants work in groups to make representations of their communities.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
At the community workshops for Aim 1, we heard repeatedly from indigenous and Afrodescendent participants how important the relationship with the land is to their cultural identities, and how displacement threatens this. For indigenous participants in particular, the greatest fear for many was losing their lands. We also heard about how communities see a link between their stewardship of natural resources and the violence they have experienced because of external interests in extracting those resources.
In the focus groups for Aim 2, we saw that many of the protection strategies being employed by people at different intersects of identity were collective, such as travelling to unsafe places in groups, identifying safe houses, developing relationships with neighbours to look out for each other in the neighbourhood, and discussing travel plans with family and loved ones. We were surprised to note that despite known risks of violence and mistreatment at home for LGBTQ+ people, in our focus group only one participant noted home as an unsafe space, although others commented that feeling safe at home was something they had worked to achieve over time and by being selective in who they lived with.
For our Aim 3 discussions, we heard about how collective strategies like the Puente Nayero humanitarian space in urban Buenaventura and the Humanitarian Shelter of the Wounaan Phobor community provided the safest conditions for residents that they saw available. While residents did not say that they ever felt completely safe, the social cohesion and political organising of these spaces were their most effective protection. These spaces are both supported through internal organising by residents but also by partnerships with external organisations like CONPAZCOL, and through national and international advocacy that bring visibility and international accompaniment to the initiatives.
The territory of the AINI Women’s collective in the Naya river. The flag is a protection measure to visibilize our presence.
Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict
This research investigated community-led initiatives of unarmed civilian protection in the ongoing ‘Anglophone conflict’ in Cameroon. Subjected to violence from both the military and armed separatist groups, civilians have been pro-active and resourceful in devising ways to protect each other and stay safe, inclusive of coded language, non-verbal communication, direct negotiation with the warring parties, early warning networks and information sharing through local associations and social media. The creation of a culture where ‘everybody is one another’s keeper’ has been crucial in enabling citizens to sustain their lives within the conflict zones since 2016. The role of women and women’s organisations is especially significant. Thus, this research explored bottom-up approaches to UCP, inclusive of their strengthening, and provides an important contribution to knowledge about informal and innovative grassroots efforts of civilian self-protection that involve vulnerable civilians’ own agency. Research methods included arts-based and creative approaches (participatory storytelling, poetry, and drawing) that enable conflict-affected communities to co-create knowledge. The research project was conducted by a team of UK-based and Cameroon-based researchers and practitioners that has previously undertaken successful research on this neglected conflict. The three NGO members are all currently involved in providing humanitarian support to civilians in the conflict zones.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Unarmed civilian protection in the context of the Anglophone conflict is predominantly led and implemented by local citizens affected by the conflict. Civilians employ a plethora of homegrown and digital unarmed self-protection strategies. We categorise these under three headings – spontaneous measures, early warning and response measures, and preventive measures.
Local agency is critical in the implementation of unarmed civilian protection. Civilians in the Anglophone conflict have been innovative and resourceful in the strategies adopted. Some strategies such as ‘dressing appropriately’ have been rather unique to this conflict, while others such as neutrality and protective silence are seen in other conflicts.
Individuals and communities have largely devised their own self-protection strategies, with support from outside agencies either absent or limited to humanitarian assistance, due to government hostility to any perceived outside interference. Yet community self-protection can potentially be strengthened through enhanced vertical linkages to local and international NGOs. Local NGOs have a role to play in strengthening civilian efforts through funding, capacity strengthening, and partnerships with local community groups. International NGOs can provide financial support to support these activities. Reflection is needed, however, on the appropriate funding model and partnership approach, allowing community self-protection strategies to be supported without the imposition of international NGOs’ preconceived UCP agendas.
Contribution to Knowledge
The study has demonstrated how people in conflict-affected communities are active agents in their own protection, something less commonly covered in the literature. In particular, the study has highlighted the significance of grassroots actors in the provision of UCP. Overall, the study shows that community self-protection measures are important not only in the absence of external actors, but also that such external bodies, both national and international, should learn from the protective measures adopted by local actors, and seek to support and strengthen these. Grassroots actors are most familiar with the terrain and context and play a critical role in their own protection. Therefore, it is essential that outside bodies, especially international organisations, acknowledge this and allow local groups to take the lead in determining the most appropriate community protection measures.
Methodologically, the study demonstrated the relevance and beneficial nature of participatory and arts-based methods. First, creative safe spaces were provided in which participants could share their experiences freely and creatively without fear of possible reprisals. Through drawing, for example, participants found a non-verbal safe space to express their views, emotions, and experiences of the conflict and their unarmed protection strategies. Secondly, this enabled participants to be authors of their own stories and experiences through the creative processes of storytelling, drawing, and poetry writing. Participants felt a sense of pride in demonstrating their ‘hidden’ skills in telling their stories through these mediums.
PI: Prof Gordon Crawford, is Research Professor in Global Development, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University (CU). He is responsible for overall leadership, research design and management of the project, including ethical approval and write-up of research outputs and dissemination.
Co-I: Prof James Kiven Kewir, is a Professor of Conflict Prevention and Regional Integration and Research Hub Leader for Central Africa, African Leadership Centre (ALC), Nairobi, Kenya. He is responsible for organisation and management of all aspects of data collection in Cameroon, and management of Cameroonian team members. Contribution to write-up of outputs and dissemination.
Co-I: Dr Nancy Annan, is an Assistant Professor, at the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University (CU). She is responsible for review of relevant secondary literature on UPC and the Anglophone conflict, preparation of interview guides, data transcriptions and analysis using NVivo, project webpage and social media presence. Contribution to write-up of outputs and dissemination. Twitter: @NAnnan_dr
Co-I: Dr Bernard Sakah, is the Managing Director of Big Steps Outreach Network (BONET), Cameroon. BONET is a youth organisation. Responsible for organisation of data collection in the Northwest Region, and a focus on youth participation.
Co-I: Ms Atim Evenye Niger-Thomas, is the Assistant Executive Director, Authentic Memorial Empowerment Foundation (AMEF- https://ameffoundation.org/), Cameroon. She is a PhD candidate in Conflict Management and Peacebuilding at International University of Applied Sciences for Development (IUASD) Sao Tome in partnership with IPD Yaoundé. Responsible for organisation of data collection in the Southwest Region.
Co-I: Ms Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh, is the Executive Director, Women for a Change (Wfac – https://wfaccameroon.org/), Cameroon. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Buea. She is jointly responsible for organisation of data collection, focusing on women’s participation. Facilitator of participatory storytelling workshops.
African Leadership Centre (ALC): ALC at King’s College London and Nairobi are a community of leaders driving peace, security, and development. We offer courses, programmes and research opportunities to inform and influence debate on issues of peace, leadership, development and security. Website:https://www.kcl.ac.uk/alc; https://africanleadershipcentre.org/ Twitter: @ALC_KCL
Big Steps Outreach Network (BONET): BONET is a youth led non-profit making organization created in 2010 and has been involved in activities including governance, democracy, human rights, sexual reproductive health and rights, community education, empowerment and entrepreneurship as well as humanitarian interventions across Cameroon. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BigStepsOutreachNetwork Website: www.bonetweb.org Twitter: @bigstepoutreach
Authentic Memorial Empowerment Foundation (AMEF): AMEF is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) created in 2006 and legalized in 2008 with a vision to cater for the rights of the girl child, young girls, and women entrapped by gender-based violence. AMEF runs four core programs namely; Education and Child Protection (ECP), Economic Development and Livelihood (EDL), Gender, Protection and Peace (GPP), Health/Nutrition/ WASH (HNW) Website: www.ameffoundation.org, Facebook: Amef Kumba-cameroon, Twitter: @AtimEvenye, @amef_kumba
The Cameroon Anglophone Crisis Database of Atrocities (CDOA): CDOA held at the University of Toronto, is an organization that documents and investigates human rights abuses in the context of Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis. The Database of Atrocities uses open-source intelligence methods and geospatial expertise to verify incidents, working with trained university teams around the world. Website: https://research.rotman.utoronto.ca/Cameroon/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameroondoa
