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The CEEShub, together with the School of Governance, Law and Society, is happy to host a research seminar with Prof Berit Bliesemann de Guevara from Aberystwyth University (UK).

Topic: Creating Safer Space: Exploring unarmed, civilian-to-civilian protection amidst violent conflict

Abstract: The need for the protection of civilians from all sorts of armed violence is growing globally, but international protection capacity is not. The alarming rise in numbers of civilians affected by violence suggests that current international protection approaches are insufficient to meet global protection needs. Yet, communities are not mere victims waiting for strangers to save them: civilians across the world protect themselves and others from violence using unarmed, community-centred methods. Based on findings of the international research network Creating Safer Space, Prof Bliesemann de Guevara will discuss how communities are engaged in locally led protection, based on proactive nonviolent strategies responding to many different forms of armed violence – from urban violence to outright war. These community-led protection efforts, together with the work of the growing community of practice that currently comprises 61 organisations providing unarmed civilian protection and accompaniment in 24 areas of the world, are inviting us to fundamentally shift the way we think and talk about security.

Graphic: Project “Introducing UCP to Thai Society“. Illustration by Wanwisa Intarakanchit.

Date, time & place: 12.02.2025, 18.00-19.30 in A-206 (Tallinn University)

Presenter: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, PhD, is Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University’s Department of International Politics. As principal investigator, she has been leading 5-year, £2.25 million GBP research network Creating Safer Space, supporting research across 26 projects in 11 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Dissussants: Louise Ridden, PhD (Tampere University), John Buchanan, PhD (Tallinn University. Event is moderated by Birgit Poopuu, PhD (Tallinn University).