We play a central role in joint coordination of both the UN strategies on protection of civilians (PoC) and implementation of protection tools designed to have better information to prevent violence and provide a rapid response to “must protect” situations. Ultimately, this improves the Mission’s capacity to protect civilians vulnerable to armed groups, human rights violations and other emergency situations in the East of the DRC. MONUSCO’s Civil Affairs epitomizes true innovation in comparison to any other current peacekeeping missions because of our continued role in incorporating civilian and humanitarian protection priorities into military plans, as well as the defining of protection priorities and recommendations regarding MONUSCO deployments in response to community needs.
Civil Affairs play a key role in the joint coordination mechanisms and the development of innovative protection tools, including:
Coordination mechanisms
- The Senior Management Group on Protection (SMG-P), which provides immediate relevant information to Senior Management on MONUSCO/FARDC joint operations, the conditionality policy and POC issues in general, and also acts as a forum for integrated POC planning, enhancing the Mission’s ability to respond rapidly to threats against civilians and reports of attacks.
- The Protection Working Group (PWG), which provides technical advice, recommendations on POC issues and secretariat services to the SMG-P, and facilitates the implementation of POC efforts,
- The Senior Management Groups on Protection at the provincial level (SMG-PP), which manages and operationalizes PoC in the field.
- Civil Affairs supports at a national and provincial level the Protection Cluster (coordinated by UNHRC) and Humanitarian Advisory Group (coordinated through OCHA) as a mechanism for regular dialogue with NGOs on protection issues and potential deployment of Mission resources.