The Civilian Protection Podcast

This episode records a conversation between Rolien and Udo, the Executive Directors of PAX and CIVIC respectively. With Annie, they discuss the landscape and main challenges of civilian protection (work) today, the worrying trends they see, as well as what keeps them going. This is the last episode in the Civilian Protection series.

Guests: Udo Jude Ilo, Interim Executive Director at CIVIC, and Rolien Sasse, Executive Director at PAX

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. 

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

This episode includes clips from previous Civilian Protection Podcast episodes, specifically episodes 1 and 6 (season 1), 7 (season 2), and 13, 14 and 15 (season 3).

To learn more about the work of CIVIC or PAX, see: 

• CIVIC website
• PAX website
• PAX Protection of Civilians website

On October 7, Hamas attacks in Israel killed an estimated 1,200 people and took over 200 people hostage. The Israeli response, including intense bombardments and a ground offensive in Gaza, has been extremely destructive, reportedly killing over 13,000 Palestinians including 5,500 children as of the time of this episode’s recording. In this episode, Emily Tripp, Director of the casualty counting organization Airwars, joins us to make sense of these numbers and explain the process and importance of casualty recording. 

Guest: Emily Tripp, Director of Airwars

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. 

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

This episode includes clips from FOX 26 Houston, France 24, ABC News, US Defense Department, NPR, and Al Arabiya English.

To learn more about civilian harm in Gaza, see:

• Airwars, Israel and Gaza 2023
• CIVIC, Civilians in Gaza Running out of Self-Protection Options
• PAX: Dutch Government, Don’t Give Israel Carte Blanche
• Just Security, Law and Policy Guide to US Arms Transfers to Israel
• Every Casualty Counts, Casualty Recorders Network

On September 19, in a 24-hour lightning military operation, Azerbaijan seized Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed region that has been an epicenter of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In the days and weeks that followed, tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians – nearly the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh – have fled. In this episode, Alissa de Carbonnel, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group, joins us to discuss the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the humanitarian crisis that has resulted. 

Guest: Alissa de Carbonnel, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, International Crisis Group

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. 

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

To learn more about the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, see:

• International Crisis Group: Responding to the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh

In Season 3 of the Civilian Protection Podcast, we’re exploring civilian protection issues in the news – as well as what the headlines might be missing. This episode brings us to the conflict in Sudan, which, since April 2023, has continued to exact a horrifying toll on civilians. Kholood Khair, Founder and Director of the Sudanese think-and-do tank Confluence Advisory, discusses what is happening in Sudan and why, the resulting attacks on civilians and civic space, and what communities are doing about it. 

Guest: Kholood Khair, Founder and Director, Confluence Advisory

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. 

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

To learn more about the conflict in Sudan and its impact on civilians, see:

• Bonus Clips: Hear from an Emergency Committee Coordinator
• Al Jazeera: Sudan ‘Resistance’ Activists Mobilise as Crisis Escalates
• Amnesty International: “Death Came to Our Home": War Crimes and Civilian Suffering in Sudan
• Human Rights Watch: New Attacks in Darfur 
• Joint US-UK Civil Society Letter on Sudan 

Civilians are not simply victims of armed conflict, but people with agency and expertise about the conflicts they are living in. In this episode, guest host Bulus Mungopark of CIVIC brings us to northeast Nigeria, where we explore successful community-led efforts to advocate for their own protection needs amid ongoing violence. 

Guests:

• Bulus Mungopark, Nigeria Community Engagement Manager, CIVIC
• Queen, Community Protection Committee Member
• Habib, Community Protection Committee Member
• Alhaji Abba, District Head

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. This episode was written by Annie Shiel and Bulus Mungopark with assistance from Erin Bijl, Marc Garlasco, and Hajer Naili.

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

To learn more about community-based protection and civilian harm in Nigeria, see:

• CIVIC, “Barriers and Bridges to Protection: Civil-Military Engagement in Northeast Nigeria,” October 2020. 
• CIVIC, “Civilian Protection Snapshot: Gwoza, Nigeria,” December 2021. 
• CIVIC, “Civilian Protection Snapshot: Monguno, Nigeria,” March 2022. 

In this episode, Annie and Marc take us to South Sudan where they interview people about civilian perceptions of local police performance, the challenges people face in seeking effective police assistance, and what may happen when people start looking for alternative sources of protection. 

Guests:

• John Malith Mabor, Senior Project Officer, PAX
• A former community surveyor (anonymous)

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. This episode was written by Erin Bijl with assistance from Anton Quist, Hans Rouw, Lauren Spink, Annie Shiel, and Marc Garlasco.

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

To learn more about the protection of civilians and police performance in South Sudan, see:

• PAX website ‘Human Security Survey: South Sudan’.
• PAX event video ‘Bridging the law enforcement gap in South Sudan’, 2021.

This episode included a clip from Al Jazeera.

In S2E2 (or episode #8), we explored the impact of conflict on the natural environment, and in turn, on civilian lives, in Ukraine. In this episode, we bring you to Iraq and Yemen to explore the reverse: how climate change can serve as a driver of conflict, and in turn, affect civilians. 

Guests:

• Dina El-Mamoun, Yemen Country Director, CIVIC
• Ali Al-Assaf, Iraq Country Director, CIVIC

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. This episode was written by Annie Shiel with assistance from Erin Bijl, Marc Garlasco, Tate Musinahama, and Hajer Naili. 

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

To learn more about effect of climate change on conflict and civilian life in Iraq, Yemen, and beyond, see:

• CIVIC report “‘If I Leave.. I Cannot Breathe’: Climate Change and Civilian Protection in Iraq”
• CIVIC report “Risking the Future: Climate Change, Environmental Destruction, and Conflict in Yemen” 

The bombing of towns and cities, or the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, leads to vast civilian harm, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and long-term humanitarian consequences. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the signing of a landmark political declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), signed by over 80 nations in Dublin last month.

Guests:

• Hajer Naili, Director of Communications, CIVIC 
• Sahr Muhammedally, Director for MENA & South Asia, CIVIC
• Roos Boer, Project Lead Humanitarian Disarmament, PAX 

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. This episode was written by Annie Shiel and Hajer Naili, with assistance from Marc Garlasco, Tate Musinahama and Selma van Oostwaard.

To learn more about explosive weapons in populated areas and the EWIPA Declaration, see:

• The website of the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW)
• Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, PAX
• CIVIC’s EWIPA Explainer
• PAX report on the Impact on healthcare from bombing and shelling in Ukraine 
• CIVIC’s Implementation Brief: Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
• Mwatana & PAX report Continuing civilian harm from the use of explosive weapons in Yemen

This episode includes live recordings of the November 2022 Dublin Conference to Adopt the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas.

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the human toll of the war has been devastating. But obscured by news about fatalities, injuries and material damages is the longer-term impact of this conflict. In this episode, we’ll explore the environmental degradation caused by military operations in Ukraine and its consequences for civilians, and discuss why protecting the environment is an essential part of protecting civilians.  

Guests:

• Yevheniia Zasiadko (Head of Climate Department, Ecoaction)
• Iryna Nikolaieva (Environment Expert and Researcher, PAX)
• Erin Bijl (Senior Project Officer ‘Protection of Civilians’, PAX)

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. This episode was written by Erin Bijl with assistance from Annie Shiel, Marc Garlasco, Tate Musinahama, Selma van Oostwaard and Brittany Roser.

This episode included a clip from BBC News. We further referred to data by OHCHR, an article on Earth.org and we quoted from the UN website for 6 November. 

To learn more about the impact of military operations on the environment and subsequent civilian harm, see:

• Interactive Map of the potential environmental impacts caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine, Ecoaction website
• Conflict & Environment, PAX website
• PAX Briefing Note to the United Nations Security Council on harm to the environment from military operations in Ukraine

Full interviews with Yevheniia Zasiadko (Ecoaction) and with Iryna Nikolaieva will soon be posted on the CIVIC and PAX website. 

On April 22, 2018, planes belonging to the Saudi- and Emirati-led Coalition dropped a bomb on a wedding celebration in Al-Raqa village, in Yemen. The attack killed 21 civilians, including eleven children, and injured 97 people. And it did so using a bomb that was made and sold in the United States. In this episode, we explore the US arms trade system and policies that made this, and so many incidents like it, possible.

Guests: 

• Ali Jameel (Accountability and Redress Director, Mwatana for Human Rights)
• Tony Wilson (Founder & Director, Security Force Monitor at Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute)
• Joyce Sohyun Lee (Visual Forensics Video Reporter, The Washington Post)

This podcast is brought to you by CIVIC and PAX. This episode was written by Annie Shiel with assistance from Marc Garlasco, Tate Musinahama, Ari Tolany, John Ramming Chappell, Selma van Oostwaard, Erin Bijl, and Frank Slijper.

This episode included a clip from Al Jazeera. 

To learn more about arms sales and civilian harm, see: 

• Day of Judgment, a report from Mwatana for Human Rights, PAX, and University Network for Human Rights on the role of the US and Europe in civilian death, destruction, and trauma in Yemen.
• A Washington Post piece outlining the findings of their joint investigation with Security Force Monitor into US support for the Saudi- and Emirati-led Coalition in Yemen; the Security Force Monitor methodology; and additional analysis from the Monitor.
• With Great Power, a report by CIVIC and the Stimson Center on civilian harm risks in US arms transfers. 

Bonus materials:

• Full interview with Ali Jameel (Mwatana for Human Rights) and with Joyce Soyhun Lee (The Washington Post) and Tony Wilson (Security Force Monitor) will soon be posted on the CIVIC and PAX website.