Realising Protection: The Uncertain Benefits of Civilian, Refugee and IDP Status
Protecting civilians from the worst effects of violent conflict, human rights abuses and persecution lies at the heart of the humanitarian agenda. Central to this endeavour is the attempt to secure respect for the protected status conferred on civilians and displaced people by international law and custom. The laws and norms that define protected status make demands on a range of duty-bearers – armed actors, state authorities and others – to observe rules of behaviour towards those with such status. Yet while this normative aspect of protection is fundamental, the protection afforded by legal and other rules remains notional unless acted upon. It is the ‘real-world’ significance of these rules that is the focus of this report. It considers the meaning and implications of three categories of protected status for non-combatants – ‘civilian’, ‘refugee’ and ‘internally displaced’ – and the changing forms of protection associated with them, in theory and in practice.
Each of these status categories emerged in particular historical circumstances and has changed over time. Civilian status has the longest history, though as Keen and Lee point out in chapter 2, it has not been uncontested. The obligation to distinguish between those who bear arms and those who do not is an ancient one, codified in more recent history in the Geneva Conventions. Similarly, the concept of sanctuary long predates the modern doctrine of asylum and related refugee protection regimes. In both cases, the basic pillars of current legal protection were established in the aftermath of the Second World War and were shaped by that experience.
Subsequent legal and policy developments have gone some way to broadening and updating the content and application of civilian and refugee status, but competing policy priorities and the dynamics of contemporary conflicts pose serious normative and practical challenges. This is reflected in the third status category considered here – ‘internally displaced person’ (IDP) – which has gained international recognition only quite recently as a consequence of perceived gaps in the prevailing normative and operational protection frameworks that were established to respond to refugees displaced across international borders, rather than the many millions of people forcibly displaced within their own countries.
