Member

Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) is an international non-governmental organisation that provides physical, unarmed protection to civilians caught in violent conflicts and subsequent crises. Founded in 2002, NP current program locations include South Sudan, Iraq, Myanmar, the Philippines, and the US. The organization’s headquarters are based in Geneva, Switzerland. Mission statement: We protect civilians in violent conflicts through unarmed strategies. We build peace side by side with local communities. We advocate for the wider adoption of these approaches to safeguard human lives and dignity In the broader understanding of humanitarian protection, Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) focuses specifically on providing direct physical protection to civilians – an area of work that conventionally has been covered by the military and police, and of course by UN peacekeepers wherever peace operations are deployed.

Description of activities: Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) is the practice of civilians protecting other civilians in situations of violent conflict, imminent violence, and following crises. It involves international civilians protecting local civilians, local civilians protecting each other, and even local civilians protecting international or non-local civilians. More specifically, UCP is a strategic mix of nonviolent engagement methods and skills geared towards prevention of violence, provision of direct physical protection to civilians under threat, and strengthening of local peace infrastructures. UCP employs four main methods: proactive engagement, monitoring, relationship building, and capacity development. UCP is both reactive and proactive in its application; reactive, since it focuses on providing physical protection in the event of imminent danger and proactive, as it contributes to behavioural change, countering structural violence.