The Creating Safer Space project ‘Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict’ has published a Practitioners’ Guide for Unarmed Civilian Protection in Cameroon. The guide is written by Kiven James Kewir, Nancy Annan, Gordon Crawford and Sakah Bernard Nsaidzedze.

The guide provides practical tips for local unarmed civilian protection (UCP) practitioners as well as UCP organisations. Drawing on research in Cameroon, the guide provides best practices and guidance that can also be built upon or replicated in other contexts.

Prof. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Creating Safer Space Principal Investigator, is sharing insights from our research in an open lecture hosted by the Central and Eastern European Security Hub at Tallinn University. The title is ‘Creating Safer Space: Exploring unarmed, civilian-to-civilian protection amidst violent conflict’. The discussants are Louise Ridden (Tampere University) and John Buchanan (Tallinn University), and the event is moderated by Birgit Poopuu (Tallinn University).

The open lecture will be held at 18.00 on Wednesday 12 February, and more information is available here.

The Creating Safer Space project ‘Safety and dignity: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta)’ has published an article in Rethinking Security, entitled Frontier Genocide: The West Bank a year after the ICJ ruling on Gaza. The article is openly accessible to all on the above link.

The article is written by Andrew Rigby, and calls for urgent protection of Palestinians in the Masafer Yatta area, which is experiencing a ‘frontier genocide’ by Israeli settlers.

The Creating Safer Space project ‘UCP in Southern Thailand: Developing civilian protection guidelines for violence-prone communities‘ has published a report, The Research on UCP in Southern Thailand: Developing Civilian Protection Guidelines for Violence-prone Communities.

The report explores the conflict in Southern Thailand, and community perceptions in regard to peace, violence and safety. It provides recommendations on civilian protection in the region. The report is only available in Thai.

The Creating Safer Space Exhibition visited Leeds Beckett University from 4 – 8 November 2024.

The exhibition 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.

Professor Rachel Julian is Co-Investigator of the Creating Safer Space network and Professor of Peace Studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Leeds Beckett University. Speaking about the exhibition, she said:

“Having the exhibition at Leeds Beckett was an amazing opportunity for other staff and students to learn directly from people affected by violent conflict, Undergraduate and postgraduate students from both social sciences and arts courses visited the exhibition and made their own responses through poetry and art. At the public meeting about the project, Gordon Crawford spoke in detail about the work in Cameroon which was fascinating. Visitors to the exhibition included research leaders in the University, understanding the global impact of large research projects, especially those rooted in the affected communities. It was such an interesting week and huge thanks to Creating Safer Space!”