The United Nations has gone a long way in including protection activities in ...

The United Nations has gone a long way in including protection activities in the mandates of its peacekeeping missions and in improving protection for specific groups such as women and children, refugees and internally displaced persons. The ICRC will continue to work for the protection of civilians within the limits of our mandate and expertise, based explicitly on a neutral and independent approach. True consensus on the meaning of protection may be hard to achieve. It is essential to have clarity and transparency on the objectives of different actors, be they civilian or military, and to clearly distinguish between them. To avoid unrealistic expectations, it is important to distinguish between physical protection — which humanitarian actors cannot provide — and protection by promoting compliance with the law.