Humanitarian Principles → Protection

Protection

Humanitarian workers can help protect those at risk by being alert to protection concerns, quickly reporting problems or concerns and designing activities with protection in mind.

 

PRINCIPLES OF PROTECTION WORK

Prioritise people’s personal safety, dignity and integrity

Fieldworkers are expected to work to preserve people’s dignity, safety, and integrity just as much as their physical needs.

Recognise people at risk as key actors in their own protection

Work directly with the people themselves to support, identify, and develop ways in which they can protect themselves and realise their rights.

Respect individuals’ decision on confidentiality, particularly in relation to sexual and gender based violence, and where family members are involved.

Engage the legal responsibilities of authorities and individuals

Protection is a shared responsibility.

Sources of protection lie in international humanitarian, refugee, and human rights law.

Overall legal responsibility lies with the state. Where states cannot meet all their humanitarian responsibilities, certain agencies have a protection mandate (e.g. UNHCR, UNICEF, OHCHR, and ICRC).

NGOs can help with practical, on-the-ground protection through well planned activities, and monitoring and reporting on rights violations.

Work together with others on different types of responses

NGOs can assist protection by:

• sensitively reporting protection concerns, either to government authorities and international bodies, or other NGOs, as they occur;
• alerting the public and media to those concerns;
• promoting international standards among government and local officials;
• offering legal and social advice, education and training programmes;
• monitoring human rights.

Avoid increasing the risk to endangered populations by misconceived or badly implemented activities, e.g.

• increased risk to the affected population due to the nature of your activities and presence (e.g. backlashes, corruption);
• incorporating aid into abusive strategies (e.g. forced displacement)
• inadvertently legitimising violations or perpetrators (e.g. deliberate starvation legitimised as famine);
• possibility or perception of bias (e.g. prioritisation that risks being seen as ‘taking sides’);
• focusing on protection of certain groups at the risk of politicising humanitarian action and violation of impartiality;
• focus on protection at the expense of other needs e.g. food, shelter, health.

 

Your protection programme should try to answer the following questions.

• Who are you trying to protect and what threats have been identified?
• What capacity do people have to protect themselves?
• How can you help them and what resources are needed?
• What capacities - local, national and internation will you collaborate with?
• How will you know if you have succeeded?