Organization: UN Institute for Training and Research
Registration deadline: 15 Mar 2017
Starting date: 20 Mar 2017
Ending date: 21 Apr 2017
Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) is the practice of civilians protecting civilians in situations of violent conflict, imminent violence, and post-crisis situations. It involves expatriate civilians protecting national civilians, national civilians protecting each other, and even national civilians protecting expatriate civilians. The practice of UCP is nonviolent and nonpartisan. Protection is provided on invitation from local actors. It supports local actors as they work to address the roots and consequences of violent conflict. This practice is grounded in international law, in the principle of civilian immunity in war, and in the protection afforded by international conventions. This course aims to make a contribution to the common objectives of protecting civilians and keeping peace. More specifically, this course provides an introduction to the foundations of UCP, its principles, methods and required skills, as well as offers an overview of UCP in practice.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Recall the key principles and sources of guidance of UCP
- Illustrate UCP methods and required skills
- Summarize key steps to go through in preparation for entering a community
- Outline key actions to undertake while living in and exiting a community The unmet need for direct physical protection of civilians against imminent violence has never been greater than it is today. Civilians suffer a wide variety of abuses and human rights violations, including killings, torture, sexual abuse, and forced displacement. The peace operations of the United Nations have assisted states recovering from war in protecting civilians. However, there are many situations of war and violent conflict where UN peace operations cannot be deployed and where government actors are not able or willing to provide protection to (all) civilians. Over the past decade, the international community has begun to recognize that civil society organizations can play a long-standing and often critical role in seeking to address large unmet protection needs. A small number of these organizations focus specifically on providing direct physical protection to civilians and on reducing violence, by applying the approach of Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP).
How to register:
Register for this UCP course here.
Course will only run if there is a minimum of 25 students enrolled. If the minimum is not met, that section will be cancelled and students will have the opportunity to move their enrollment to the next course offering in the schedule.
https://www.merrimack.edu/academics/professional-studies/unarmed-civilian-protection/#Course%20Hours