| As part of its programme for developing a policy framework on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, OCHA has initiated a series of regional workshops to take the dialogue out of the UN and into the regions, so that we can collectively better understand the needs, responsibilities and roles for protection. The issues of civilian protection are a shared responsibility - they are the responsibility of governments, but also of security forces (armies and police forces) and the humanitarian community.
Objectives: More specifically, these events are intended to provide a forum for sharing perspectives with different constituencies on protection issues; advocating and clarifying important considerations for policy makers; identifying strategies for mainstreaming these considerations into decision-making processes; fostering bilateral discussions on follow-up efforts; and providing regional recommendations that could be incorporated in briefings and reports to the UN Security Council. By striving to advance and strengthen the culture of protection, it is also hoped that the workshops will contribute more broadly to diminishing the casualties, injuries and general hardships suffered by civilians during armed conflicts.
Workshop Series: OCHA has coordinated seven regional workshops thus far in Southern Africa (15-17 Oct. ’02), East Asia-Pacific (14-15 Nov. ’02), Europe and the Balkans (25-29 Nov. ’02), West Africa (19-21 May ’03), the South Pacific (3-5 June ’03), the South Asia (28-30 Oct. '03) and the Latin America (16-18 Mar '04). Respectively, these events were funded by Canada, Japan, the UK, Finland, Australia, Norway and Canada. Two country-specific workshops have also been coordinated in Uganda (7-9 Sep. '04) and the Russian Federation (1-2 Mar '05). Most recently, two roundtable consultations were held in New York which reviewed the implementation of the protection elements of the mandates of peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) in December 2005 and in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) in May 2006.
Target Audience and Format: These workshops aim to bring together approximately 50 mid- to senior-level participants representing regional ministries of foreign affairs, defense and interior, civil society, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, regional organizations, and UN field offices. Representatives are selected from countries that have experienced the effects of armed conflict either directly or indirectly and could benefit most from participation in the workshop given funding constraints. Each region tends to be at a different place on the POC spectrum - some have lived with conflict for a long time and use the workshop to explore new ways to address intractable as well as new problems, while others are exploring regional peace and security issues and civilian protection for the first time and with some urgency in the age of terrorism.
The events are typically organized in conjunction with a local partner organization to foster local and regional ownership of the issues and continuity of the programme upon completion of the workshop. The workshops run for 3 days and involve a number of panel discussions with representatives from humanitarian agencies, experienced practitioners and experts (e.g. ICRC, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP, DPKO, local NGOs), group application of the protection framework to a crisis simulation exercise, and a roundtable on strategies for mainstreaming the protection of civilians into domestic and international decision-making processes. Themes for the panel discussions focus on (1) Challenges to Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, (2) Roles and Responsibilities in Protection, and (3) Response Coordination, and are conducted in the spirit of identifying protection issues or gaps and then making practical suggestions as to what could be done to address them.
For more specific details on each workshop, including the agenda, list of participants and final report, please click on the related link(s).
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