Core sectors
Protection
The Protection sector is one of DRC’s five core sectors of intervention. Its overall objective is to ensure that conflict- and displacement-affected people enjoy their human rights and have no displacement-related protection needs.
Protection of Conflict- and Displacement-Affected People
The aim of Protection is to ensure that conflict- and displacement-affected people enjoy their human rights and have no displacement-related protection needs.
Defining “Protection”
Protection encompasses: “All activities aimed at ensuring full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the relevant bodies of law, i.e. human rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law.”
In practice, protection interventions aim to protect conflict- and displacement-affected people and communities from violence and / or the fear of violence, coercion and deliberate deprivation.
A positive outcome from a protection intervention results in a reduction of protection risks for affected persons and communities, including decreasing threats they are exposed to, reducing their vulnerabilities, and increasing their capacities for self-protection. This is achieved through changes in behaviour, attitudes, knowledge, policies and practices on the part of relevant stakeholders.
3 Dimensions of Protection
Protection is a multi-faceted concept. Protection is:
- An overall goal of DRC's work
- A legal responsibility
- A sector with sub-components and activities
Protection Sector Components
DRC’s Protection sector consists of the following components:
- Protection Information Management (PIM)
- Child Protection (CP)
- Community-Based Protection (CBP)
- Prevention of and response to Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
- Legal Aid
- Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS)
- Support to Protection Coordination (Co-Coordination / Co-Leadership)
While a responsibility for all staff and sectors, the Protection sector is responsible for promoting and driving DRC’s efforts on:
- Protection Mainstreaming
- Age, Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming
Projects under Protection
ASPIRE: How young South Sudanese refugees endeavour to create peaceful communities
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GBV Innovation Programme
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Protection Analysis and Data Entry, Exploration Platform (DEEP)
Read moreNews about ProtectionView all news
29 Oct 2024
PANEL DEBATE: ‘Access to asylum in a global context of shrinking protection space: challenges and good practices’
14 Oct 2024
Ukraine: Providing vital humanitarian aid and life-saving explosive risk education near the frontline
11 Jul 2024
Proposed U.S. asylum rule limits access to protection and fuels increase in vulnerability
31 Jan 2024
Evidence of an upsurge in violence and rights violations against people on the move in Mexico, needs overview shows
19 Jan 2024
New Report from ASPIRE: Endeavours for Peace for young South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda
13 Dec 2023
Ukraine: Surviving captivity in 2014, mother of 2 had to flee from home amidst the onset of war
12 Dec 2023
Moldova: DRC is committed to continue strategic partnership with Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova to strengthen joint refugee response
10 Nov 2023
DRC’s support to Ukrainian civilians traveling from Poland to their hometowns: a glimpse into the mine risk education activities in Poland
07 Nov 2023
Poland: Getting a second chance in life and a sense of hope after fleeing the war in Ukraine
24 Sep 2023
Ukraine: 'I saw the missile coming' – a struggle of a single mother returning to rebuild a home
04 Aug 2023
Poland: How offices in Warsaw are turned into shelter for vulnerable refugees from Ukraine
16 Jun 2023
Joint NGO Statement: The EU must not be complicit in the loss of lives at sea and in rights violations at Europe’s borders
09 Jun 2023
Addressing critical needs of Afghans: New Study Recommends Strategies for Principled Action
10 May 2023
Photo gallery from Mali: Our emergency mobile teams deploy within 72 hours - even to the hardest-to-reach areas.
02 May 2023
Joint statement: Sudan INGO Forum calls on conflict parties to ensure protection of civilians
24 Apr 2023
Somalia: DRC provides integrated emergency support to families displaced by conflict in Laascaanood
02 Mar 2023
One year after the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive: learnings on protection of refugees from Ukraine
24 Feb 2023
Joint humanitarian NGO statement: Ukraine one year on: Highlighting the needs of displaced Ukrainians in Georgia
24 Feb 2023
Joint humanitarian NGO statement: Humanitarian situation in Malakal still not ripe to decommission POC
27 Jan 2023
DRC focuses on improving access to primary and secondary health care to people on the move
16 Jan 2023
New report: How anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling measures can improve protection for Rohingya Refugees in Asia
15 Sep 2022
Five years on from the end of the conflict, up to one million Iraqis lack essential identity documents
We work with Protection in these countries
- Afghanistan
- Bangladesh
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Colombia
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Denmark
- Ethiopia
- Greece
- Iraq
- Italy
- Jordan
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Mali
- Mexico
- Moldova
- Myanmar
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Occupied Palestinian territory
- Poland
- Romania
- Serbia
- Somalia
- South Caucasus
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Tunisia
- Türkiye
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- Yemen
Read more about DRC's core sectors
Economic recovery
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Humanitarian disarmament and peacebuilding
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Shelter and settlement
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