Dialog across difference #31: Kill them with kindness

There is an official traditional international definition of protection of civilians in armed conflict and it always and inappropriately focuses on who does the protecting rather than focusing on the actual goal, the actual desired outcome (Julian, 2024). That is, it is always viewed as a valiant armed force, such as the UN peacekeepers, keeping the civilians safe from the violent ones on any side of armed conflict. 

A focus for the definition and understanding of the proper concept of civilian protection reveals a far more complex picture, often including unarmed civilians protecting other civilians more effectively than even the UN "Blue Helmets," the so-called "lightly armed" international forces. Presumably, their bullets only make others lightly dead. Indeed, UN peacekeepers rarely shoot, and, in one 2020 incident in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the irony was profound when hundreds attacked the UN building there out of stated anger that the UN peacekeepers were doing little or nothing to protect local civilians from guerrilla forces. The UN peacekeepers shot two of the protesters dead.

While formal organizations explicitly eschewing violent defense of civilians is a relatively modern concept dating to Peace Brigades International and other unarmed civilian protection (UCP) organizations from the 1980s onward, the phenomenon is ancient. From hiding Moses from the infanticide edict of the Pharaoh to hiding Jews in the attic from Nazi predations, civilians have always rallied to protect other civilians. Now, however, this is becoming a sustained and generalized phenomenon, not limited to a particular conflict. 

From Peace Brigades International to Witness for Peace to Christian Peacemaker Teams (now Community Peacemaker Teams) to Muslim Peacemaker Teams to the International Solidarity Movement to Nonviolent Peaceforce to Friends Peacemaker Teams, this concept is being modeled in many ways with generally excellent results. 

References

Julian, R. (2024). Civilians Creating Safe Space: The Role of Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping in Protection of Civilians. Civil Wars, 26(1), 187–212. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1080/13698249.2024.2324563

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfoHNI1Nh2Y

https://friendspeaceteams.org/about/

https://nonviolentpeaceforce.org/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADukmR5Q_qm18LyXsE8EcAbJA-vfk&gclid=CjwKCAjwy8i0BhAkEiwAdFaeGMyc8E8KMAkzj7fWebnIvNXTMDCLBS-9ewH-7nv3QFrt7z5lkOw0BxoCOmUQAvD_BwE