Influencing United Nations policies to make people safer from violence - Policy Week 2024

In early May 2024 I am accompanying the voices of people affected by violent conflict and state violence to be heard in the UN. Our Creating Safer Space exhibition of artwork, poetry, photography and stories from communities protecting civilians nonviolently across the world will be shown at the UN in New York. This enables us to speak directly with policy makers about how we protect civilians from violence and grow the community capacity that the exhibition reveals.

The Creating Safer Space research project has demonstrated that across the world (26 projects in 11 countries) unarmed civilians are working in their communities to make people safer from violence…but it’s not enough to just show that this is true People have told their stories and shared their knowledge - and we’ve worked with them to amplify voices through regional meetings and exhibitions…but that’s not really enough.

We believe that there are people who make policy decisions in the UN, who control funding, and who run influential platforms who need this information - in order to create mechanisms that really work to make people safer, build community capacity and rethink the meaning of security and protection.

This builds on my strong experience of working with policy makers: In Brussels I was European Coordinator for Nonviolent Peaceforce; I was invited to speak at the UN in 2018; and, in collaboration with, Prof Berit at Aberystwyth University (Principal Investigator of Creating Safer Space), we have written a series of UN policy briefs to accompany the exhibition.

Our policy briefs show how our research findings fit with specific policies and debates that are currently being discussed. For example, one is all about engaging with local people and the concepts behind Localisation, and another outlines how this work is part of Protection of Civilians.

To entice the attention of busy policymakers we must show that we understand how our research findings fit with their interests and what they’re trying to achieve.

We know that it’s not up to them to look behind our data and think about what it means for Protection of Civilians. So our policy briefs have a clear message that quickly links our work to their work - and this depends on us knowing who they are, who they work with and what they’re trying to do.

And when we meet them in New York, we will share with them the voices of people affected by their policies, and introduce them to how this work will help them achieve their goals - that we all want people to live in a world where they are safe from violence and harm. We know that this is just the beginning.

Our time in New York is short, the conversations and the inspiration we have there is only the next small step…we need to stay in touch, build strong relationships and keep having those conversations about how we change the way we think about and do protection for those affected by violence.

The Creating Safer Space exhibition will be at Leeds Beckett University in Autumn 2024, and feature a series of talks and events.

To follow up on policy engagement work, please email Professor Rachel Julian.