The project team is pleased to share a multimedia tool that contains the results of the project, available on the organisation’s website: https://cjlibertad.org/psgbajocauca/
An event was held to present the results to relevant organizations and national and regional authorities responsible for the protection and guarantee for social leaders and human rights defenders and indigenous authorities. It sought to generate commitments for the protection of life and guarantees for the work of leadership. State authorities recognize the serious risk situation for social leaders and human rights defenders and indigenous authorities, but are unable to commit to strategies that provide protection and guarantees to the work of social leaders.
Creating Safer Space Exhibition in Bangkok
The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at the Social Innovation Hub at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, from 20 February – 5 March 2024. The exhibition was part of the Creating Safer Space final regional research forum for South-East Asia, hosted by the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University.
The travelling exhibition, which has also been on show in Nairobi (Kenya), Aberystwyth (Wales) and New York (USA) 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.
Creating Safer Space Conference in Africa
The Creating Safer Space network held a three-day Final Regional Event for Africa and the Middle East in Nairobi, Kenya, from 24–26 January 2024. The event was hosted by Strathmore University’s Business School.
The aim of the event was to bring researchers, practitioners, artists, journalists, and policymakers together to share unique research methodologies, research findings, and their implications for violence prevention, protection, and peacebuilding initiatives.
From the many learnings about unarmed civilian protection (UCP) and community self-protection in Africa and the Middle East arising from the presentations and discussions, three overarching learnings stood out:
UCP is embedded in, and emerges from, traditional and cultural practices. Findings across different projects are thereby fundamentally challenging and changing the literature on “who does UCP” away from international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) to local people.
UCP involves many more activities than had been acknowledged previously. This is because, in protecting people, communities start with what they have, be that signs and symbols, community media, or traditional mechanisms.
Early Warning is understood and carried out in most places at risk, but Early Response can be further developed so that the community can choose to de-escalate, use relationships, or other mechanisms. There is a need for better support for developing early response and strategic de-escalation.
Other high-level themes arising from the discussions included, among others:
That lots of communities and grass-roots organisations do UCP, without calling it such or having heard of nonviolent protection;
The centrality of the collective and of solidarity in UCP/community self-protection;
The important role of women and youth;
The positive role the arts and artivism can play in UCP and community self-protection;
The growing importance of online media in civilian protection;
The role of UCP with regard to the looming threat of conflicts brought about or acerbated by climate change, which require early intervention to prevent them.
The event brought together over 60 participants from at least eight countries. Distinguished speakers included Prof. Jacqueline McGlade (Professor at Strathmore University and University College London, formerly Chief Scientist of the UN Environment Programme and Executive Director of the European Environment Agency), Ambassador Frederic Gateretse-Ngoga (Ambassador of Burundi; Senior Advisor for the AU Border Program and Regional Security Mechanisms in the Office of the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Peace and Security of the African Union Commission), Dr Caesar Mwangi (Executive Dean of Strathmore University Business School), Ms Rosemary Kabaki (Nonviolent Peaceforce Head of Mission, South Sudan) and Dr Vincent Ogutu (Vice Chancellor of Strathmore University).
Ambassador Frederic Gateretse-Ngoga
Each of the 10 Creating Safer Space projects in Africa and the Middle East sent at least two representatives to the event, which involved detailed presentations and discussions on research findings and synergies between projects:
Exploring Unarmed Civilian Self-Protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone Conflict (Gordon Crawford and Nancy Annan of Coventry University, UK, and Bernard Sakah of Big Steps Outreach Network, Cameroon)
Unarmed Civilian Protection Through Collective Impact: Learning from the Jos Stakeholders Centre for Peace (JSCP) for Enhanced Civilian Protection in Maiduguri, North-Eastern Nigeria (Sukanya Podder of King’s College London and Hamsatu Hajja Allamin of the Allamin Foundation for Peace & Development, Nigeria)
Gender-Just Landscapes: Gender Based Violence and Community Protection in Land, Natural Resource, and Climate Conflicts (Aliyu Salisu Barau and Zainab Nuhu of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria)
Strengthening Local Capacities for Unarmed Civilian Protection in Uasin Gishu, Kenya (Clinton Gwako and Emmanuel Birech of Rural Women Peace Link, Kenya)
Nonviolent Activism Against Police Brutality in Kenya (Martha Okumu and Rachel Akinyi of Peace Tree Network, Kenya, and Elias Opongo of Hekima University College, Kenya)
Strategies for Safety and Solidarity: Understanding Protection Through Creativity in South Sudan and Colombia (Kara Blackmore of London School of Economics and Political Science, José Fernando Serrano-Amaya of University of Los Andes, Colombia, and Rebecca Lorins, South Sudan)
Safety and Dignity: Enhancing Unarmed Civilian Protection Amongst Palestinian Communities in the South Hebron Hills (Marwan Darweish of Coventry University and Mahmoud Soliman of Coventry University and Al-Shmoh Cultural Centre, Palestine)
Visualising Early Warning and Preparedness in Civilian Protection: Investigating Local Vernaculars of Community Adaptations to Insecurity (Diria Vicky Thomas of Community Aid for Relief and Development, South Sudan, and Haji Elias Hillary of Lomore Development Organization, South Sudan)
Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia (Luke Abbs of University of Winchester, UK, and Moses John and Flora Francis Bringi of Organization for Nonviolence and Development, South Sudan)
The event also involved a Roundtable on Reporting on Civilian Protection. Speakers included Arthur Okwemba and Ruth Omukhango (African Women and Child Feature Service, Kenya), Philip Muhatia (Pamoja FM), Alex Chamwada (ChamsMedia) and Abjata Khalif (Journalist, Northeastern Kenya). They shared experiences of peace reporting in Kenya, through vernacular community media, especially local radio stations, the strong role of women in this alternative media reporting, and how it contributed to unarmed civilian protection and conflict prevention in different settings and situations.
Participants also visited the Creating Safer Space exhibition. The exhibition brings together objects, images, and voices emerging from the network’s projects to show how civilians around the world harness the power of nonviolence to create safer spaces for a dignified life
This is the first of our three final events. The final event for Asia will take place in Thailand in February, and the final event for Latin America will take place in Colombia in June.
Arddangosfa Creu Man Diogelach yn Aberystwyth
Please see this weblink for information in English
Beth sy’n digwydd pan fydd sifiliaid yn dewis gweithredu heb arfau i amddiffyn eu hunain rhag trais? Pa mor rymusol yw ymwrthod â thrais wrth lunio presennol a dyfodol pobl?
Canolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth, 11 – 28 Mawrth 2024 DIGWYDDIAD AGORIADOL: 6pm ddydd Gwener 22 Mawrth
Mae’r arddangosfa CREU MAN DIOGELACH yn ymdrin â grym annisgwyl dulliau di-drais wrth amddiffyn sifiliaid sy’n byw yng nghanol trais. Mae’n dangos sut mae pobl gyffredin yn meddwl am amddiffyniad ac yn ei ymarfer heb ddefnyddio arfau, a pha ffyrdd trawsnewidiol o ddychmygu, gwneud, a byw y mae’n eu galluogi, ond hefyd beth yw ei gyfyngiadau.
Gyda’r mwyafrif o farwolaethau mewn rhyfeloedd ymhlith sifiliaid, a’r lefel uchaf erioed o dros 110 miliwn o bobl wedi’u dadleoli drwy rym ledled y byd, mae amddiffyn sifiliaid rhag niwed rhyfel, trais ac erledigaeth ymhlith materion pwysicaf ein hoes. Ond mae’r atebion a ddychmygir yn bennaf yn cynnwys defnyddio arfau i amddiffyn rhag trais, neu gymorth dyngarol i amddiffyn pobl yn gyfreithiol ac yn economaidd-gymdeithasol. Mewn cyferbyniad, mae’r bobl sy’n cael sylw yn yr arddangosfa hon yn dangos i ni bod dewisiadau di-drais, sifil o amddiffyn rhag trais corfforol yn gweithio, a sut maent yn gweithio.
Mae’r arddangosfa Creu Man Diogelach yn ymdrin â grym annisgwyl dulliau di-drais wrth amddiffyn sifiliaid sy’n byw yng nghanol trais. Mae Creu Man Diogelach yn tynnu ar brofiadau o Gamerŵn, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Palestina, Ynysoedd y Philipinau, De Swdan, a Gwlad Thai, lle mae sifiliaid yn harneisio grym dulliau di-drais i greu mannau mwy diogel ac yn gweithio tuag at bresennol a dyfodol amgen. Mae’r gwrthrychau, y delweddau a’r lleisiau yn deillio o ddetholiad o 26 o brosiectau ymchwil a gynhaliwyd ar y cyd rhwng academyddion, cymunedau hunanamddiffynol a hebryngwyr sifil di-drais, a oedd yn ymdrin â sut mae amddiffyn sifiliaid heb drais yn gweithio. Mae’r profiadau y maent wedi’u casglu yn ein gwahodd i fyfyrio ar ein rhagfarnau a’n syniadau ein hunain o ran pwy all amddiffyn a sut i wneud hynny.
Mae’r arddangosfa CREU MAN DIOGELACH yn herio ei hymwelwyr i ailystyried credoau cyffredin am fregusrwydd, cyfryngu, a dewisiadau mewn rhyfel. Mae’n ein gwahodd i ddychmygu posibiliadau ar gyfer amddiffyn sifiliaid yn wahanol, ac mae’n ein hysbrydoli i weithredu a chyfrannu at y newid hwn.
DIGWYDDIAD AGORIADOL 6pm ddydd Gwener 22 Mawrth
Ymunwch â ni ar gyfer gwin, bwyd, cerddoriaeth ac i ddysgu mwy am yr arddangosfa. Sylwadau agoriadol gan:
yr Athro Angela Hatton, Dirprwy Is-ganghellor (Ymchwil, Cyfnewid Gwybodaeth ac Arloesi)]
Dr Patrick Finney (Pennaeth yr Adran Gwleidyddiaeth Ryngwladol)
Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Prif Ymchwilydd y Rhwydwaith Ymchwil Creu Man Diogelach).
What happens when civilians choose unarmed action to protect themselves from violence? How empowering is nonviolence in shaping peoples’ presents and futures?
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 11 – 28 March 2024 OPENING EVENT: 6 pm on Friday 22 March
The exhibition CREATING SAFER SPACE explores the unexpected power of nonviolence in the protection of civilians living in the midst of violence. It shows how protection is being thought of and practised by ordinary people without the use of weapons, and what transformative ways of imagining, doing, and living it enables, but also what its limits are.
With most deaths in wars sustained among civilians and a record high of over 110 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, the protection of civilians from the harms of war, violence and persecution is a pressing issue of our time. But answers are still mostly imagined as either armed protection from violence or as humanitarian assistance to protect people legally and socioeconomically. By contrast, the people featured in this exhibition show us that and how nonviolent, civilian alternatives of protection from physical violence work.
CREATING SAFER SPACE draws on unarmed civilian protection 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. The objects, images, and voices originate from a selection of 26 research projects conducted in collaboration between academics, self-protecting communities and nonviolent civilian accompaniers, that explored how nonviolent civilian protection works. The experiences they have captured invite us to reflect on our own ideas and biases of who can protect and how.
CREATING SAFER SPACE challenges its visitors to undo commonly held beliefs about vulnerability, agency, and choices in war. It invites us to imagine possibilities for the protection of civilians differently. And it inspires us to take action and contribute to this change.
OPENING EVENT
6 pm on Friday 22 March
Join us for wine, food, music and to learn more about the exhibition. Opening remarks by:
Prof. Angela Hatton (Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation)
Dr Patrick Finney (Head of Department, International Politics)
Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Principal Investigator of the Creating Safer Space Research Network)
External News
Advancing Social Defence – Current Issues and Practical Challenges
Scientific Symposium, 6-7 September 2024, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (HSBI)
As part of the Creating Safer Space project “Community Strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) in South-West Colombia” the research team, under the leadership of Dr Natalia Campo, organised the 1st International Festival of Participatory Video and Community-based Cinema at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) in the city of Cali, Colombia, between 15 and 16 Nov.
The festival received 178 applications from 25 countries and its academic agenda included a series of in-person workshops on UCP strategies with community members from the three sites of the project: Buenaventura, Caldono and Lerma, as well as a conversation with Prof. Beatriz Arias about art-based strategies for UCP.
A massive thanks to our UAO-based colleagues and generous hosts of the festival: Prof Jesus Alfonso Florez, Dr Campo, Jimena Andrade and Dr Adrian Alzate; and to the students of Dr Campo’s module Participatory Video and Community-based Cinema, who made a tremendous contribution to the festival. A well-done to our local partners from Buenaventura, Caldono and Catatumbo, whose films were shortlisted. To the winners of the festival, a massive congratulation. You can read more (and see pictures) about the Festival and the winners here:
We are happy to share the Creating Safer Space brochure, with information about our network, our activities and our research.
This version of the brochure shares initial research findings from each of our 26 research projects in Africa, South-East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. A new version of the brochure will be published in autumn 2024, with the final research results.
The Creating Safer Space network has two research projects in Palestine. The research teams leading both projects highlight that while the world’s attention is understandably focused on Gaza, there is also a tragic situation unfolding in the West Bank.
“Mahmoud Makhamra is a young film maker from the South Hebron Hills (SHH), Palestine, who has been contracted by the project to make a ten minute film about civilian protection in the area. The aim is to use the film as form of discussion among community and other actors to elicit insights and exchange views about the effect of local protection mechanisms. Mahmoud also co-produced the film On Our Land about cultural protection in SHH.
Mahmoud was arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on 29 Dec 2023 at about 12:00 in his village Jinba, while he was filming a shepherd. Mahmoud told us later that “they arrested me and took me to a military camp, and kept me outside in the cold for six hours, my eyes blindfolded and hands tied behind my back”. After that the army took Mahmoud to a military detention centre in Kfar Etzion near Bethlehem. He was released on 2 January without charges. The Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory have no civil rights and will be charged in military courts.”
“From October 7th the level of violence escalated: all the Israeli settlers wear a uniform and hold weapons, and behave as a sort of militia, supported by the legitimization of the Israeli government. In this worrying context, Operazione Colomba’s staff has a crucial role to protect Palestinian civilians in danger and to monitor and report human rights violations in the area. The staff suffered direct threats by settlers and the Israeli army on many occasions. Operazione Colomba even witnessed an attempt by an Israeli settler to murder a Palestinian man in the middle of the street in the village of At-Tuwani (South Hebron Hills), that has been recorded and reported to the media and Israeli NGOs and lawyers. Luckily the victim survived, after many medical treatments. Please see: https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-war-how-attacks-by-settlers-on-palestinians-in-the-west-bank-have-risen-during-gaza-conflict-12986997
From the beginning of 2024, the level of violence is always very high. Operazione Colomba is on the ground, together with other groups of activists (Palestinian, Israeli and international) who perform unarmed civilian protection. More than 18 Palestinian villages (almost 1000 people) have been forcibly evacuated by Israeli armed settlers and army in the region. Operazione Colomba witnesses daily arrests, violence, destruction of properties and land-grabbing, recording all the human rights violations.”
The research participants are women in Colombia who have been displaced by armed conflict, and who now reside in contexts characterized by social and urban segregation in the city of Cali. In these environments, the women remain exposed to multiple forms of violence linked to fear-based political dynamics. The booklet communicates the key research findings and shares innovative protection strategies. The aim is to encourage the adaptation and replication of these strategies in other regions and communities affected by fear-based policies.
