What Is Protection?: A Definition by Consensus

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched a series of workshops on the protection of civilians in 1996. These workshops, which continued into 2000, involved in-depth discussion among some 50 humanitarian, human rights and academic organisations/institutions on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The series of workshops led to what might be called a 'working consensus' on the definition of the term protection and on the concept of complementarity: complementary roles that could be played by various organisations in protection1.

The workshop proceedings were published and are available through the ICRC. ICRC's May 2001 publication, Strengthening Protection in War: A Search for Professional Standards, summarises the main findings of the workshop process, including main points on the discussion about the definition of protection, modes of action, and complementarity of action. ICRC has continued discussions of protection through the ICRC Ecogia Protection Seminars; open to a variety of participants2.

ICRC workshop participants defined protection as encompassing

• "all activities, aimed at obtaining full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the relevant bodies of law (i.e. human rights, humanitarian and refugee law). Human rights and humanitarian actors shall conduct these activities impartially and not on the basis of race, national, national or ethnic origin, language or gender" (1999).

The workshop participants went on to reach consensus that protection activities include:

• "any activity which:
  • prevents or puts a stop to a specific pattern of abuse and/or alleviates its immediate effects;
  • restores people's dignity and ensures adequate living conditions through reparation, restitution, and rehabilitation,
  • fosters an environment conducive to respect for the rights of individuals in accordance with the relevant bodies of law."
  • Protection activities may include responsive action, remedial action and environment-building and may be carried out concurrently.
  • · Examples of these activities and their interrelationship can be found in the relevant ICRC publications3.