Essay: Protection of Civilians (POC) During War

Abstract

It was widely anticipated that the end of Cold War will herald the general state of positive peace and that the world will yield the benefits of ‘peace dividends’. However, such manifestations were not witnessed. In evidence, between 1989 and 2000, more than 4 million people died in violent conflicts around the world. To this end, Gupta and colleagues (2002) noted that international terrorist attacks increased from a yearly count of 342 (during 1995-1999), to 387 per year (during 2000-2001). Underdeveloped and developing countries bore the major brunt of the violence. Conflicts that were ideological and had their roots in power management were largely resolved through the diplomatic statecraft or through use of military force. However, the conflicts that were unconventional in nature grew and gave rise to more complex and multidimensional intrastate conflicts. The new dimension in these conflicts can be identified through common features that generally include the use and spread of violence on the civilians, causing great loss of life and serious breaches in the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The history of IHL can be traced to the work of Henry Dunant and Guillaume-Henri Dufour in 1860s (ICRC, 2017). This law has a deep rooted connection with the discourse of the Protection of Civilians (PoC). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is playing a key role in its implementation along with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The term ‘protection’ encompasses the fragments of International Refugee Convention (IRC) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL). The institutional implementation of this ‘protection’ by the UNHCR and ICRC is clear in their mandate regarding operational strategies. They have developed themselves as the ‘lawfully oriented and diplomatic channels of influential engagement with state and non-state actors. This essay will focus on the importance of PoC by the armed forces in connection with the aforementioned international institutions. It also highlights the role of civil society and different sections of the civilians and how they are affected during the war. This will be followed with the recommendations and conclusion.