Activists: How govt can mitigate civilians harm in armed conflicts

Juliana Francis

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, recently declared that at least one million school children among more than 37 million school children in Nigeria were now afraid to return to school following school resumptions, no thanks to the killings, banditry, and kidnapping in different parts of the country.

UNICEF’s representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, said: “As more than 37 million Nigerian children start the new school year this month, at least one million are being left behind, afraid to return to school due to insecurity. Learners are being cut off from their education and other vital benefits schools provide, as families and communities remain fearful of sending children back to classrooms due to the spate of school attacks and student abductions in Nigeria over the last several months and the current climate of insecurity.”

Hawkins further stated that a child’s first day of school should be an exciting event for parents and children – a landmark moment in their young lives, signaling new learning and new friends that will impact their futures.

 “This moment is being stolen from around a million Nigerian children this year, as insecurity threatens their safety and education,” said Hawkins.

Just as Hawkins mentioned, children being out of school and people displaced, are some of the effects of conflicts. Women and children do not cause wars or conflicts, but they are ones that bear the consequences of armed conflicts. Whenever there are armed conflicts, civilians lose their lives and their sources of livelihood are affected.

What can be done to protect Nigerians caught in the midst of armed conflicts was what occupied journalists and members of the Civil Society Organisations discussions recently in Ikeja, Lagos State.

The meeting was spearheaded by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the Centre for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), with support from the European Union (EU).

The Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa said: “The absence of genuine political will to realise accountability for conflict areas and other serious violations have deepened a culture of impunity. As a result, parties to conflict continue to directly violate international humanitarian law (IHL) or enable violations by others, and fail to take meaningful practical steps to minimize and respond to civilians harmed in conflict.”

He further noted: “One of the more persistent challenges in protecting civilians from the effects of armed conflict is to get to a shared understanding of what constitutes ‘civilian harm,’ as there is currently little consistency or consensus among stakeholders. Partly, this is a matter of differing opinions, but, more often; it is caused by confusion through lack of specification. When speaking of ‘civilian harm,’ many policymakers and military practitioners take this to equal ‘civilian casualties,’ people killed or injured directly using violence. Such a narrow definition of the term ‘civilian harm’ is troubling because it obscures other negative impacts of violent conflict on civilians like mental trauma, loss of livelihood, and displacement, among others. Consequently, a limited understanding of civilian harm not only does not do justice to the plight of many civilians affected by conflict, but it also raises crucial questions about how to determine the proportionality of a military operation’s effects on the civilian population.”

He explained that he wanted the media to popularize and advocate for the adoption of the national policy on Protection of Civilians -Civilian Harm Mitigation (POC-CHM).

The Team Head, CIVIC, Mujidang Sitdang, said it would be good if media joined in the campaign for pushing for support of the National Policy on Civilian Protection and Civilian Harm Mitigation.

Sitdang said: “CIVIC and CISLAC have so far worked toward adopting a National Policy on Civilian Protection and Civilian Harm Mitigation. Driven by a passion to save and protect civilians through engagement with relevant armed actors, CIVIC has developed and implemented solutions to prevent, mitigate and respond to civilian harm and in advancement of the vision of a world in which no civilian is harmed in conflict.”

He further stated that in Nigeria, CIVIC has been working to promote these by engaging with key military institutions to influence their curriculum and reinforce the POC/CHM mindset. He also explained that CIVIC has successfully trained over 2387 military personnel at training institutions and deployment centres, trained 663 deployed troops within Brigades in the North East, facilitated training of trainers for 93 military instructors, facilitated 19 meaningful dialogues and town hall meetings between the military, community militias, stakeholders and civilians that have further strengthened trust, coordination and led to an inclusive community driven protection of civilians’ strategies.

“CIVIC has also trained communities in the northeast on the protection of civilian`s and empowered them to the point of establishing six functional community protection committees (CPCs), made up of 300 community members drawn from across host communities and camps that continue to facilitate appropriate engagement with key security agencies to advocate for their protection needs,” said Sitdang.

He added: “Above and beyond this, are the several advocacy engagements with the push for the adoption of a Protection of civilians’ policy and bill that CIVIC has been working on. When adopted, Nigeria will be the first country in Africa with such a policy that seeks to further safeguard its citizens from harm. Threats to civilians during conflict manifest in many forms. The concept of POC seeks to address the threats by mitigating harm, facilitating access to basic needs and contributing to establishing a safe and secure environment.”

He urged the media to sensitise Nigerians by bringing to light the importance of civilian protection, putting their full weight behind the drive towards the actualization of policies, laws and programmes, which will ensure a system where civilian protection is at its core.

The Programme Communications and Administrative Assistant at CIVIC, Julius Gaiya, said: “POC policy is Protection of Civilians, persons, objects and services, encompasses all efforts made to avoid, minimize and mitigate the negative effects on civilians arising from military operations on the civilian population and, when applicable, to protect civilians from conflict-related physical violence or threats of violence by other actors, including through the establishment of a safe and secure environment. Apart from making Nigeria the very first country in Africa to have a policy and bill that underlines its commitment to civilian protection, the policy recognizes, and builds upon the following.”   

Gaiya, while urging that the existing best practices, which includes approaches that had been proven to be working in the northeast to address the crisis and improve the humanitarian situation, continued to be observed, added that it was also better for Nigerians to understand certain things about the policy. 

He noted: “The policy document recognizes and builds upon existing laws. It is consistent with obligations outlined in domestic law, international law, treaties, and constitutional principles. It recognizes that to be effective, we must be consistent across government. Under the policy and draft bill, all Nigerian security operations will prioritize the safety and security of civilians and endeavor to minimize the negative effects of conflict on the civilian population. The policy document recognizes that civilians must not be forgotten. The policy and draft bill affirm Government’s commitment to ensuring the protection of civilians throughout the planning and conduct of all security operations as well as protecting civilians from the actions of other armed actors. This policy is achievable. As we have seen in the progress made here in Nigeria and other parts of the world, there are proven techniques in promoting the protection of civilians.  When security operations are not Civilian centric, with components of PoC and adherence to International Humanitarian Law, new root causes of conflict will be created because of harm by security forces either incidentally or accidentally and create an infinite circle of conflict instead of returning situation to normalcy.”