Evidence to UK Government Inquiry

Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space Principal Investigator) and Prof. Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space Co-Investigator) submitted evidence to a UK Parliament inquiry in April 2024, relating to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The UK Parliament’s International Development Committee had launched an inquiry into the FCDO’s approach to supporting civil society and civil society organisations through its programming (more information here).

Drawing on Creating Safer Space research findings, Prof. Bliesemann de Guevara and Prof. Julian recommend that the FCDO acknowledge Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) and community self-protection as a credible and important practice in protection policy that is broadly applicable and effective in a range of situations of armed conflict. They recommend that the FCDO support civil society’s protection work through funding, inclusion in situational analysis, and recognition as one of the components of peace infrastructures and operations. They further recommend that communities are included as decision-makers regarding how to use funding, who is involved in high-level meetings, and what protection approaches work in any given context.

The full report is available here.

Creating Safer Space at the United Nations

The Creating Safer Space exhibition will soon be on display inside the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The exhibition will be shown at the Delegates’ Entrance of the UN Headquarters from 29 April – 3 May. The official sponsor of the exhibition is the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the UN. Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Prof. Rachel Julian and Dr Nerve Macaspac will accompany the exhibition. They will seek to inform UN delegates, UN staff, and other interested stakeholders about Creating Safer Space research and the potential role of Unarmed Civilian Protection in the Protection of Civilians (PoC).

The travelling exhibition, which has previously been on show in Nairobi (Kenya), Bangkok (Thailand) and Aberystwyth (Wales), explores the unexpected power of nonviolence in the protection of civilians living in the midst of violence. The objects, images, and voices originate from a selection of 26 research projects funded by the Creating Safer Space network, which have been conducted in collaboration between academics, self-protecting communities and nonviolent civilian accompaniers. The exhibition draws on experiences from Cameroon, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, South Sudan, and Thailand, where civilians are harnessing the power of nonviolence to create safer spaces and work towards alternative presents and futures.

Along with the exhibition, there will be a stand with publications and brochures from Creating Safer Space projects, including a series of new policy briefs specifically for the UN and its member states.

An exhibition event will be held on Tuesday 30 April for members of UN missions and other interested parties, with drinks, nibbles and introductory speeches.

New publications on UCP

Prof. Rachel Julian, Creating Safer Space Co-Investigator, has published an article in the academic journal Civil Wars, ‘Civilians Creating Safe Space: The Role of Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping in Protection of Civilians’. The article draws on research in Myanmar and the Philippines, and challenges the assumption that only the military can do ‘Protection of Civilians’ (PoC). The article is available to view open access.

Mel Duncan, one of the co-founders of Nonviolent Peaceforce, has published an article in Waging Nonviolence, ‘There’s a better way to make communities safer — and it’s taking off around the world’. The article draws on Creating Safer Space research in Colombia, carried out by the University of Antioquia in collaboration with Harlequin and the Jugglers.

Policy Brief on UCP in Cameroon

The Creating Safer Space project ‘Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict’ has published a policy brief, Strengthening Unarmed Community Self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone Conflict. The policy brief is written by Dr Nancy Annan and Prof. Gordon Crawford, and it demonstrates the resilience, resourcefulness, and pro-activeness of civilians in protecting themselves in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict. It advocates that external bodies, both national and international, should learn from these protective measures adopted by local actors, and provide appropriate support.

UCP/A Community of Practice

The Creating Safer Space network is excited to be part of the UCP/A Community of Practice, which brings together people and organisations around the world that are practicing, researching and promoting Unarmed Civilian Protection and Accompaniment. We are delighted that Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Creating Safer Space Principal Investigator, has become a member of the UCP/A Community of Practice Steering Group.

The UCP/A Community of Practice, with support from Creating Safer Space, has recently published a Report on its last international gathering, which took place in Geneva in October 2023. The report is available in English, Spanish and French.

Creating Safer Space at the WOW Film Festival

The Creating Safer Space network has shown a series of films as part of the WOW Wales One World Film Festival, and these are still available to view online.

The WOW Film Festival is the only UK festival dedicated principally to films from Africa, Asia & Latin America, and this is its 23rd year of bringing international films to cinemas across Wales.

This year the WOW Film Festival included 9 short films that have been produced as part of Creating Safer Space research projects in Colombia, Nigeria and Palestine.

The films were shown in Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales. Two of the sessions included discussions with the Principal Investigators of the projects that created two of the films, Dr Marwan Darweish for Civil protection to stay on our land (Palestine) and Dr Pier Parisi for Survive among violence: Stories of the Nasa people in Colombia. More information about the films here.

The films and recordings of the discussions are being shown online until 31 May – book here with free admission!

Creating Safer Space Exhibition in Wales

The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on display in Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales from 11 – 28 March.

Two students from the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University worked as Exhibition Tour Guides. Emily Pomeroy is a first year PhD student, and Konstantinos Kolokotronis is a Master’s student. They provided tours to groups of university students and members of the public. A diverse range of visitors viewed the exhibition, and were moved by the stories and the artwork. Most heard about unarmed civilian protection for the first time.

A special exhibition event, attended by approximately 80 people, was held on the evening of Friday 22 March, with wine, food and live music. In her opening remarks, Angela Hatton, Aberystwyth University Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, discussed the importance of the Creating Safer Space network in the context of the increasing need for civilian protection around the world. Patrick Finney, the Head of Department of International Politics, highlighted the Creating Safer Space network’s difficult journey (born during Covid and affected by subsequent funding instability) and the pleasure in now seeing the network’s achievements as part of the exhibition and its contributions to the WOW Film Festival.