3.3.3 Advocacy

Protection is the legal responsibility of governments, international peacekeeping forces and/or armed groups on the ground. Advocacy involves influencing those who are legally responsible for protecting civilians in a given situation, to comply with the relevant international laws to ensure population safety. CARE may be able to undertake advocacy to work towards protection objectives. However, such activities must be balanced against staff security, the continuation of programmes, access to affected populations and the risk of putting communities at further risk. For further details, refer to Advocacy.

Where there is limited space for advocacy, CARE can coordinate with protection-mandated agencies such as the UNHCR or Red Cross to bring further attention to protection concerns. Often, these agencies have a greater capacity to respond to a protection threat.