Protection

• Each year, 500,000 people are killed in war
• Each year more than 30 million people flee their homes as a result of conflict and natural disasters

How we respond

We believe that all people should be able to live free of violence and coercion, and that they should not be deliberately deprived of the things they need to survive, including humanitarian relief.

Our protection work is about more than just making sure our humanitarian response doesn't further harm people in crisis. It also entails acting to make civilians safer, where safety is the main problem they face. We do this either by reducing the level of the threat people face, or by reducing their vulnerability to that threat.

Reducing the threat to safety

At a national and international level, we work by influencing governments, and international institutions, to provide protection to civilians affected by conflicts. We also work to persuade those who are committing the violations to change their behaviour.

Laws, such as the Geneva Conventions, and the International Human Rights Law, form an important backdrop to protection. They set standards for the way people should be treated. They can help locate responsibility for action or inaction, and can sometimes be used to persuade those with responsibility to act.

Reducing vulnerability

In emergency situations, we look at what threats there are to people’s safety, who they affect, and how. We plan and implement our work based on these assessments. At the same time, we take care not to undermine other ways in which communities may already be dealing with the threats they face.

We enable communities to make decisions, and take action themselves, both through the provision of impartial information and by helping them organise and represent themselves.

Other things we do in emergencies

Disaster risk reduction
Water and sanitation
Health promotion
Food security and nutrition