Humanitarian protection

Outside of times of crises, national governments tend to have responsibility to ensure that people's rights are protected, but during humanitarian emergencies aid agencies often perform the task.

[3] Humanitarian protection was subsequently debated at the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir in response to his government's killing of civilians.

[2] The ICRC policy defines humanitarian protection as: ensuring authorities and others in power respect their own obligations to preserve the physical integrity, safety and dignity of people affected by conflict and violence.

[2] Protection activities include efforts to prevent or stop breaches of international humanitarian law and other relevant legislation.

[6] Humanitarian protection needs tend to arise in times of armed conflict, civil unrest, and in the aftermath of natural disasters.

[8] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees leads the Global Protection Cluster, which has appointed one humanitarian agency as the focal point for each of the four areas of responsibilities: Humanitarian activities relating to the protection of children include the provision of safe spaces for playing and learning.

[1] The increasing use of lethal autonomous weapons (also known as killer robots) and use of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (also known as drones) technologies present major obstacles to the future protection of civilians in conflict zones.