The team organised an event to disseminate their policy brief, Civilians Protecting Civilians, in London on 21 March 2024. The event included the participation of H.E. Roy Barreras, Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom, Louise Winstanley, from the British civil society organisation ABColombia and Victoria Bird, from the UK Foreign Office.
Photo by Rodeemos el Diálogo
The policy brief was published by Rodeemos el Diálogo and written by Karen Arteaga Garzón and Andrei Gómez-Suárez, with illustrations by Sebastián Bucheli. The policy brief is available in English and Spanish.
Strengthening Unarmed Community Self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone Conflict
The policy brief is written by Karen Arteaga Garzón and Andrei Gómez-Suárez, with illustrations by Sebastián Bucheli. It is available in English and Spanish.
Creating Safer Space Exhibition at the United Nations, New York
The Creating Safer Space exhibition was on show at the Delegates’ Entrance of the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 29 April – 3 May 2024.
The travelling exhibition, which has also 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.
(Photo: Ramón Campos)
Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Prof. Rachel Julian and Prof. Nerve Macaspac accompanied the exhibition, and informed UN delegates, UN staff, and other interested stakeholders about Creating Safer Space research. They shared the Creating Safer Space policy briefs on the potential role of Unarmed Civilian Protection in the Protection of Civilians (PoC) and other publications from Creating Safer Space projects.
Visitors described the exhibition as timely and important, and some raised personal reflections on the artwork. A member of a UN mission from a country in Africa remarked that the use of whistles as a method of early warning and early response, as illustrated by our exhibition material from Cameroon and South Sudan, was also used in their own country – and this practice had once saved their life.
An exhibition event was held on Tuesday 30 April for members of UN missions and other interested parties, with drinks, food and introductory speeches. Prof. Arlene Tickner, Ambassador of the Colombian Mission to the UN in New York, highlighted that, “[o]ne of the most fascinating things about this project, I think, is not only its work with communities affected by violence, but also the insistence on nonviolent mechanisms of protection and self protection to accompany civilians in contexts of violence and conflict”. Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara highlighted how Creating Safer Space research across 11 countries has shown that we can find community-level unarmed civilian protection everywhere. Civilians are not just victims waiting to be saved by strangers – they are protectors in their own right – and these nonviolent protection strategies work in making people safer across a range of different violent contexts.
(Photo: Ramón Campos)
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, for being our official sponsor, for all their help in making the week a success, and for enabling us to bring community voices from around the world to this global centre of power.
Creating Safer Space Policy Briefs for the UN
The Creating Safer Space network has published a series of policy briefs about our research and our recommendations to the UN and its member states. The policy briefs have been written by Creating Safer Space Principal Investigator Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Co-Investigators Rachel Julian and Nerve Macaspac, and draw upon research from 26 Creating Safer Space projects. The policy briefs will be disseminated during the exhibition at the UN Headquarters in New York. There are five policy briefs to date:
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 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.
