Protection

States are the primary duty bearers for the protection of individuals and their rights. However, crises may hamper States’ institutional capacities to respond to protection risks. In this regard, humanitarian actors can play an important role to support States (IASC, 2016). Protection needs, such as being protected from threats to life, dignity and wellbeing, and having access to basic goods and services such as food and water, relate to human rights (see Right to an adequate standard of living).

Humanitarian protection comprises all activities aimed at ensuring full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and the spirit of relevant bodies of law (IASC, 1999).The protection of all affected people is central to humanitarian decision-making and response, including assistance, no matter if carried out by State authorities or other actors (IASC, 2013). This means humanitarian efforts need to mainstream protection by conducting activities in ways that:

  • Prioritize safety and dignity and avoid causing harm;
  • Enable meaningful access;
  • Promote accountability;
  • Foster participation and empowerment.

 

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Source

IOM/Catianne Tijerina, 2014

In addition, some protection-specific responses may be needed to address human rights and humanitarian law violations or to restore the rights of individuals who are particularly vulnerable to, or at risk of, violence, neglect, discrimination, abuse or exploitation (IASC, 2016). Both context-specific factors and various aspects of identity (such as age, sex, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities, ethnicity or indigenous background) can contribute to increased vulnerabilities. Special attention should be paid to groups or individuals who are traditionally less protected or at risk of becoming targeted by violence. This could, for instance, include mobile groups, such as migrants, specific ethnic or gender groups, and children, who often make up a large portion of crisis-affected communities.

Crises tend to weaken child protection services, and this may expose children to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence during emergencies. This vulnerability is more likely if children are separated from their families and communities due to displacement (The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Affairs, 2020). Therefore, enabling families to remain together can be an important protection measure (see Child migration and Family and migration).

Another particularly acute mobility-related protection risk in the context of crises is human trafficking, as displaced people may be more vulnerable to this kind of exploitation. The collapse of traditional support structures and the weakening of State structures and social service systems may exacerbate this problem (see Trafficking in persons and the mobility of crises). Gender-based violence (GBV) is a further distinct protection risk that is often exacerbated in humanitarian crises and situations of fragility more broadly. During conflict, GBV is frequently used as a weapon of war, putting women and girls, men and boys, as well as non-binary individuals at risk (see Gender in crisis and post-crisis contexts).

Policy Approaches
Protection in crises contexts

Special attention should be paid to groups or individuals who are traditionally less protected or at risk of becoming targeted by violence. This can be achieved by:

  • Undertaking specific measures and interventions to prevent GBV, from the onset of a crisis and continuing through transition and recovery efforts, including by provisioning trainings on protection as well as on GBV core concepts and principles.
  • Ensuring women’s and girls’ participation in the identification of context-specific risks and all groups’ access to information.
  • Supporting the development of referral pathways and strengthening specialized services.
To Go Further
Evacuations

Evacuations are lifesaving, temporary measures and thus differ from movements associated with durable solutions for displaced populations (see Solutions and recovery). States may consider supporting or encouraging evacuations (see Disaster preparedness) to protect people in times of crisis as it allows them to move to safe spaces within a country or, in some cases, internationally.

Table
Table 2. Different levels and types of evacuation
MANDATORY ADVISED SPONTANEOUS
  • Only when necessary to protect life, health or the physical integrity of the affected persons.
  • To the extent the emergency allows, evacuations are mandatory when the affected population has been properly consulted and when they are conducted in accordance with the law.
  • An official evacuation advisory message should be issued to enable early response and informed decision-making by the population at risk on whether and when to evacuate.
  • People evacuate from their current location due to an actual or perceived risk using their own means (self-evacuation) and without (or before) being officially advised or directed to do so.

 

Policy Approaches
Supporting evacuations to protect people in times of crises
  • Regularly consult with concerned parties; form strong, informed partnerships. The actions of many partners within and outside the State will need to be coordinated to work together.
  • Carefully plan movement assistance to ensure that populations are prepared and protected at all stages of travel: pre-departure, during travel and upon arrival.
  • Consider potential vulnerability and safety issues that may require groups to be separated by gender, age or other characteristics or that may warrant specific assistance and care (such as sex, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, disabilities or medical conditions).

In the case of local evacuations, international migrants may be more reluctant than nationals to evacuate a crisis area, or less likely to do so, or they may move independently along different routes and to different destinations from other groups (MICIC Initiative, 2016; Guadagno, 2016). In emergencies, factors that shape the experiences and behaviours of international migrants include, for instance, the location in which they live or work, their ability to understand messages and communicate in the local language, the way they are reached by emergency warnings and how they interpret them, the levels of trust they have in the local emergency management system, and the resources they can mobilize to get out of harm’s way. Thus, socioeconomic conditions and cultural background should be factored into planning and responses.

Good Practice
Migrants’ evacuation during Hurricane Gustav

When Hurricane Gustav hit New Orleans in 2008, the city hosted some 30,000 undocumented migrants. Local authorities disseminated information in foreign languages and promised not to arrest irregular migrants during the evacuations. However, thousands of migrants, particularly undocumented day labourers, decided not to evacuate and remained in affected areas. They refused to board buses and trains that were being used to facilitate the evacuation for fear of deportation, and they refused to use evacuation shelters run by local governmental authorities. Crackdowns on migrants in previous years had reduced trust in public authorities and fears were only made worse as people were being registered before evacuation. This shows that the building of trust between authorities and migrants caught in crises require long-term planning and investment.

Source

The Associated Press, 2008; MICIC Initiative, 2016.

As a last resort and in the absence of other locally available, effective means of protecting affected persons in situations of crises, international humanitarian evacuations may become necessary. Such operations will need to be coordinated by the host State and the migrants’ State of origin. In addition, coordinating with third countries through which evacuees would be transiting is essential. International evacuations need to be tailored to the affected people’s needs and vulnerabilities. International humanitarian organizations are often well placed to provide support in this regard, including IOM through its Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programme. VHR of international migrants to their home countries usually takes place in the midst of acute humanitarian crises as a possible option to bring migrants out of harm’s way and address their often-urgent humanitarian needs.

To Go Further

In all assisted movements, including evacuations, the affected populations’ vulnerability should be addressed pre-departure, during movement and upon arrival, and appropriate screening systems should be in place to ensure that individuals are provided with the appropriate support for travel (see Migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse). Moreover, health is a critical part of any assisted movement operation. During assisted movements, providing a comprehensive prevention and care package in support of migrant health throughout the movement process is recommended (see Health and migration).

Key messages
  • Humanitarian protection comprises all activities aimed at ensuring full respect for the human rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and the spirit of relevant bodies of law.
  • States are the primary duty bearers for the protection of individuals and their rights; however, crises may hamper States’ institutional capacities to respond to protection risks.
  • Evacuations are lifesaving temporary measures and thus differ from movements associated with durable solutions for displaced populations. International humanitarian evacuations need to be coordinated by the host State, the migrant ’s State of origin , and, if necessary, the third country through which the evacuee will be transiting.
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