Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the political turmoil caused by the regime has continued and become increasingly legalized and intensified. Thousands of people have since been killed, detained, or have fled their homes to escape the brutality of the junta. Having been left with no choice, many people have tried to flee into the nearest country, Thailand, in any way they can, some legally and some without documents. People without documents specifically are faced with many risks in Thailand, such as being searched, arrested, and deported. 

Using participatory action research (PAR) and autoethnographic methods, and working with Myanmar scholars who have fled to northern Thailand, the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) at Chiangmai University and Nonviolent Peaceforce Myanmar will work together to research refugees’ vulnerabilities as well as existing unarmed civilian protection (UCP) practices and mechanisms in the northern part of Thailand. The project will do so from the perspective of Myanmar refugees’ daily experiences, focussing on the tactics and strategies they have developed over time in order to protect themselves and others. These issues are relevant to the Creating Safer Spacenetwork’s mission to better understand vulnerabilities and protection mechanisms. 

Specifically, the study aims at understanding vulnerabilities and harms faced by Myanmar refugee scholars and the resiliency and effectiveness of civilian protection mechanisms for scholars in northern Thailand. Its findings and outputs will contribute to knowledge development, public awareness raising, and policy.

Project team:

• Dr Chayan Vaddhanaputi, Regional Center for Social Sciences and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Chiangmai University, Thailand (co-principal investigator)
• Nonviolent Peaceforce Myanmar (co-principal investigator)
• Kyaw Kyaw, Nonviolent Peaceforce Myanmar (project researcher)

The purpose of this project is to increase the understanding, visibility, preference for, and advocacy on the application of various research findings and good practices around unarmed civilian protection (UCP) in the management of conflict by state and non-state actors. To do so, it uses strategic media platforms and engages with practitioners, media houses, and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Kenya in advancing the importance of UCP. 

The activities designed to help realize this purpose include: 

(1) Conduct radio programmes to create awareness on, advocate for, and educate communities on the approaches and benefits of UCP to communities, state actors, development partners, and CSOs as a conflict management approach at the local and national levels. The radio shows will be aired on Kitwek FM Station that broadcasts to UasinGishu and other counties, and Ghetto FM radio that broadcasts in Nairobi, especially targeting populations in the informal settlements and low-income areas of the city.

(2) Conduct two trainings of two days each to build the capacity of selected media practitioners working in two counties – Uasin Gishu and Nairobi – on UCP and how to use the gained knowledge to promote UCP as an approach to conflict management. The selected journalist will be those who reported on conflict before. The trained journalists will be key in disseminating the findings of the N+ projects and UCP good practices by Rural Women Peace Link (RWPL) and Peace Tree Network (PTN).  

(3) Document and showcase in-depth stories of change of how UCP approaches have been used to successfully manage conflicts in Uasin Gishu and Nairobi counties.

Project team

• Arthur Okwemba, African Woman and Child Feature Service (project lead)

• Ruth Omukhango, African Woman and Child Feature Service

Gallery