Towards hybridity in the Protection of Civilians

暴力冲突对平民生活的各个方面都有灾难性的影响。2020年5月，联合国秘书长报告称，仅在2019年，就有2万多名平民因10个国家的冲突袭击而丧生或受伤。正是由于这些原因，暴力冲突地区的“保护平民”（PoC）已成为那些以第三方身份进行干预的国际组织的政策和行动的基石。联合国（UN）、区域组织和各国政府部署的行动都制定了政策和框架，指导其军事、文职和警察人员在维和行动方面的工作。同样，非政府组织和人道主义行动者也制定了自己的平民保护方法，与多边组织的方法有细微但有价值的区别。此外，来自冲突地区的民间社会行动者也根据当地情况采取保护措施。这些方法还可能使人们对什么是保护以及如何实施保护产生不同的理解。因此，关于PoC的不同愿景如何在部署区域内竞争和交互的挑战已经浮出水面。组织战略、政府方法以及民间社会对“保护”含义和实施方式的理解都已被曝光。这就需要在暴力冲突中保护平民的不同行动者之间进行进一步对话。该研究项目将启动一系列研讨会，政策行为者和学术研究人员将参与这一主题。这些研讨会的核心将是“混合”的概念。混合性是一种源自建设和平与发展领域的理论，是指第三方干预者与被干预者之间的互动。研讨会将研究干预组织在与其他组织在共享空间内运作时如何调整其政策，以及当当地参与者适应、忽视或抵制他们的“平民保护”版本时，他们如何反应。这些研讨会将在都柏林、伦敦和达勒姆举行，其目的是将学者和政策制定者的跨学科网络联系起来。学者们大多处于学术生涯的早期阶段，他们将被邀请展示他们对平民保护的研究，同时也会反思他们所使用的研究过程。讲习班将邀请政策界的参与者，与以官方身份制定平民保护指导和政策的人员进行接触。实践者将被邀请分享他们在部署区域所面临的实现挑战的观点。在这里，为人道主义组织工作的人将概述在部署区与当地民间社会行动者接触的过程，以及如何根据当地情况修改政策。通过这些讲习班，预期将建立一个可持续的参与方网络。该网络将形成作者的核心名单，并据此为一份高级国际期刊的特别版提出建议。预期学术成果将在方法上严谨，具有高度独创性，并将对暴力冲突中保护平民的研究作出重大贡献。除了学术成果外，研讨会还将发布一些较小的研讨会报告和一份综合报告。这些活动将主要针对政策界，介绍研究项目和所进行的讨论。这些报告和有关平民保护的背景文件将存储在一个可公开访问的在线数据库中。最后，该系列旨在为学生和学者建立一个学习包。

Violent conflict has a catastrophic effect on all aspects of civilian life. In May 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General reported that more than 20,000 civilians had been killed or injured in 2019 as a result of attacks in conflicts in 10 countries alone. It is for these reasons that the 'protection of civilians' (PoC) in violent conflict zones has become a cornerstone of the policies and actions of those international organisations who intervene in a third-party capacity.Operations deployed under the United Nations (UN), regional organisations and national governments have all developed policies and frameworks which guide their military, civilian and police personnel in aspects of PoC. Likewise, non-governmental organisations and humanitarian actors have developed their own approaches towards civilian protection, with nuanced but valuable differences from those of the multilateral organisations. In addition, civil society actors from the conflict zone itself approach protection in a way informed by local context. These approaches may also bring a different understanding to what protection is and how it is implemented.Therefore challenges concerning how different visions of PoC compete and interact within deployment zones have come to the fore. Organisational strategies, governmental approaches, and civil society understandings of what 'protection' means and how it is implemented have been exposed. This necessitates further dialogue amongst the different actors engaged in civilian protection in violent conflict.This research project will launch a series of workshops whereby policy actors and academic researchers engage on this topic. At the core of these workshops will be the concept of 'hybridity'. A theory drawn from the peacebuilding and development fields, hybridity refers to the interaction between third party interveners, and those who are subject to the intervention. Workshops will examine how intervening organisations have adapted their policies when operating within a shared space with other organisations, and how they react when local actors adapt, ignore, or resist their version of 'civilian protection'.The workshops will be held in Dublin, London and Durham, and are organised with the intention of linking up an inter-disciplinary network of scholars and policymakers on the topic. Scholars will largely be at the early-career stage of their academic career, and will be invited to present their research into civilian protection, but also to reflect on the research process which they used. The workshops will invite participants from the policy community, engaging with those who develop guidance and policy on civilian protection in an official capacity. Practitioners will be invited to share their perspectives on implementation challenges that they have faced in deployment zones. Here, those who work for humanitarian organisations will outline the processes which took place in engaging with local civil society actors in deployment zones, and how policies were amended in light of local context. Through these workshops it is expected that a sustainable network of engaged parties will be created.The network will form the core list of authors from which a proposal for a special edition of a high-ranking international journal will be composed. It is expected that academic output will be methodologically rigourous, of high originality and will make a significant contribution to the study of civilian protection in violent conflict.In addition to the academic output, the workshops will release a number of smaller workshop reports, and a synthesis report. These will be targeted primarily at the policy community to introduce the research project and the discussions which take place. These reports, and background documentation into civilian protection will be stored on a publicly accessible online data-bank. Finally, the series seeks to build a learning pack for students and scholars.