The Creating Safer Space project ‘Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua: Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives’ has published a new policy brief, Building Peace Amidst the Papua Conflict: Supporting Grassroots Protection and Peacebuilding Agents. The policy brief is written by Arfiansyah, Reza Idria and Delsy Ronnie, and draws upon interviews, focus group discussions and arts-based research methods in Papua. It explores the causes of the conflict in Papua, and how civilians protect themselves and others from violence.
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New Working Paper on UCP/A and Decolonization in South Sudan, Burundi and Colombia
A new Creating Safer Space Working Paper has been published, titled Community self-protection and Unarmed Civilian Protection/Accompaniment (UCP/A): a way to decolonize peace. The working paper is written by Catarina Bezerra, Laura Jiménez and Victória Barros, and is available in English and Spanish.
The working paper provides insights into the effectiveness and challenges associated with nonviolent strategies, highlighting the importance of self-protection, dialogue, and community-based relationship building as catalysts for sustainable solutions in conflict-ridden scenarios. It explores decoloniality as a foundation for self-protection initiatives, and examines three case studies of civilian self-protection in South Sudan, Burundi and Colombia.
New Working Paper on Protection Norms in Myanmar
A new Creating Safer Space Working Paper has been published, titled The Diffusion of Protection Norms and Practices in Kachin and Northern Shan, Myanmar. The working paper is written by Nang Seng Raw, Arfiansyah and Mang Pi, and draws on research by the Creating Safer Space project Understanding Changing Strategy and Practice of Civilian Protection Under a Military Junta: The case of Kachin and Northern Shan, Myanmar.
This working paper discusses the diffusion of protection norms in Kachin and Northern Shan, two among many conflict areas of Myanmar. Nonviolent Peaceforce has worked with local civil society organisations in Myanmar for several years, and have accompanied them in developing protection mechanisms. This working paper explores how protection norms were localised and diffused, and how they were transformed following the military coup of 2021.
Unarmed Civilian Protection: Comparative Insights from Colombia, Myanmar, and South Sudan
March 2025.
Policy brief by the Creating Safer Space project ‘Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia’.
Authors: Mark Owen, Sapai Khaing, Karen Arteaga Garzón, Andrei Gómez-Suárez, Luke Abbs, Flora Bringi and Moses John.
Building Peace Amidst the Papua Conflict: Supporting Grassroots Protection and Peacebuilding Agents
March 2025.
Policy Brief by the Creating Safer Space project ‘Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua: Exploring Local Infrastructures and Initiatives’.
Authors: Arfiansyah, Reza Idria and Delsy Ronnie
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.
This documentary was produced by participants in the Creating Safer Space project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”.
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).
Policy Events in Brussels
The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at Quaker House Brussels from 4-7 February 2025, and it was accompanied by three policy events.
On the first day, we held a policy event on “Civilians and Nonviolence in Crisis Preparedness and Management”, with several speakers: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space), Rosemary Kabaki (Head of Mission, Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan), Gaëlle Nizery (Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, European Commission) and Nora Loozen (Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
During the week, we also held two brown bag lunches. The first brown bag lunch focused on protective accompaniment and community-led Unarmed Civilian Protection in Colombia, with Emily Humphreys (Peace Brigades International) and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space). The second focused on protecting human rights defenders, with speakers from the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network and Nonviolent Peaceforce.
We published two policy briefs for the occasion, for the EU and its member states:
Creating Safer Space Exhibition in Brussels
The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at Quaker House Brussels from 4-7 February 2025.
On the first day, we held a policy event on “Civilians and Nonviolence in Crisis Preparedness and Management”, with several speakers: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Rachel Julian (Creating Safer Space), Rosemary Kabaki (Head of Mission, Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan), Gaëlle Nizery (Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, European Commission) and Nora Loozen (Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
During the week, we also held two brown bag lunches. The first brown bag lunch focused on protective accompaniment and community-led Unarmed Civilian Protection in Colombia, with Emily Humphreys (Peace Brigades International) and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Creating Safer Space). The second focused on protecting human rights defenders, with speakers from the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network and Nonviolent Peaceforce.
Nonviolent Community Strategies Make Civilians Safer
New Creating Safer Space Brochure
The Creating Safer Space network has published a new brochure.
The brochure provides information about our activities and achievements over the last five years. It also features a summary of our key research findings, and an outline of the Creating Safer Space model of carrying out research with and for (not “on”) self-protecting communities and UCP practitioners.
The brochure also dedicates two pages to each of our 26 commissioned projects, highlighting the diversity of research approaches and research findings within our network.
