Area of intervention
Protection
1/3
women worldwide have been victims of physical and/or sexual violence
57,4
people worldwide in need of assistance due to gender-based violence
1/5
refugee or displaced woman who has experienced sexual violence
What is
Protection?
Première Urgence Internationale recognizes the definition of protection adopted by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and the humanitarian community as “all activities aimed at obtaining full respect for the rights of the individual, in accordance with the letter and spirit of the relevant bodies of law”.
To complement the IASC definition, the European Commission has defined humanitarian protection as “aimed at reducing and combating the risks of violence, coercion, deprivation and man-made abuse of individuals and groups of people in the context of humanitarian crises, in accordance with the principles of humanitarianism or humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, and within the framework of the corpus of international law, and in particular international human rights law (IHRL), international humanitarian law (IHL) and refugee law”.
Our objectives
- Safe and dignified programming: contribute to collective humanitarian responsibility by systematically incorporating protection principles into all interventions in the field, whatever the context or type of program implemented.
- Integrated protection: contribute to the promotion and protection of the rights of crisis-affected populations through the implementation of protection interventions integrated with other intervention sectors such as health, mental health and psychosocial support, water, sanitation and hygiene, food security and socio-economic empowerment, etc.
- Autonomous protection: contribute to the prevention, reduction and response to violence, coercion, deprivation and violations suffered by individuals, groups and communities affected by humanitarian crises.
Première Urgence Internationale understands that humanitarian protection is both a cross-cutting issue and a sector in its own right. We therefore follow two main approaches:
1. Transversal protection means incorporating protection principles and promoting meaningful access, security and dignity in humanitarian aid, to all sectors of intervention and concerns all phases of the program cycle. These principles include:
- Preventing harm by avoiding or minimizing any harmful effects of an intervention likely to increase people’s vulnerability to both physical and psychosocial risks,
- Equality / Non-discrimination / Meaningful access of people to assistance and services in proportion to their needs and without any barriers (in other words, without discrimination), while paying particular attention to gender, age and disability barriers.
- Accountability to people receiving assistance or participating in an activity, including responding to their concerns and complaints,
- Participation and empowerment by building people’s capacity for self-defense and supporting them to assert their rights, including – but not limited to – the right to decent housing, food, water and sanitation, health, and education.
Furthermore, Première Urgence Internationale integrates gender issues into its actions and programs in order to understand the impact of any intervention on each individual, and to act and promote gender equality.
2. Targeted actions through :
- Protection integrated with other intervention sectors such as health, mental health, access to water, nutrition, food security, etc.
Example: Food security activities that both provide access to food (distribution of vouchers) and fulfill protection objectives (avoidance of harmful survival mechanisms such as survival sex, exploitation, hazardous work, child labor).
Examples: Deployment of integrated multi-sectoral protection-health-mental health teams and psychosocial support in emergencies; multi-sectoral care for survivors of sexual violence; training of health personnel on protection issues, etc. - Autonomous, general or specialized protection: In some specific intervention contexts, Première Urgence Internationale implements a range of protection activities at both community and individual levels, notably by offering social accompaniment and support in accessing services.
Examples: care and social support for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, social support for people living with disabilities, financial support to access decent housing or legal services, mobilization of community networks, monitoring of incidents of rights violations.
