Protection & Solidarity Campaign
Protect the most vulnerable–children, women, cultural workers, and nature—through legal aid, advocacy, and cross-border solidarity amid war.
“Our House”, International Centre for Civil Initiatives
Introduction
The war in the region has dramatically worsened the situation of already vulnerable groups, many of whom remain invisible in the current humanitarian and political agendas. These are not abstract categories but real human lives caught between violence, exile, and neglect. The “Protection & Solidarity” campaign seeks to restore visibility, dignity, and security to those most affected—children, women, cultural workers, and the natural environment—through coordinated advocacy, legal protection, and transnational solidarity.
Core Demands of the Protection & Solidarity Campaign
1. Protect children affected by war and authoritarian repression
- Recognize refugee and displaced children on both sides of the frontlines as a priority group for humanitarian protection.
- End practices of forced separation, detention, and collective punishment of children based on the political or civic activities of their parents.
- Establish regional monitoring and reporting mechanisms for violations against children affected by militarization, repressions, and displacement.
- Guarantee access to education, psychological support, family reunification, and safe living conditions without discrimination by nationality, origin, or migration status.
2. Safeguard migrant and refugee women from exploitation and despair
- Recognize women refugees, especially from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, as a group at high risk of sexual exploitation, economic exclusion, and social isolation.
- Ensure accessible shelters, legal aid, and psychological care for women survivors of violence, coercion, or human trafficking.
- Promote dignified employment opportunities and pathways to social inclusion.
- Support women’s self-organization and participation in peacebuilding, decision-making, and mutual aid initiatives.
3. Defend cultural workers and artists targeted for anti-war and feminist positions
- End persecution of artists, journalists, and cultural figures who oppose militarism, patriarchal narratives, or authoritarian regimes.
- Provide safe residencies, emergency grants, and mobility schemes for at-risk artists.
- Encourage European and international cultural institutions to adopt solidarity measures for persecuted creators.
- Recognize cultural freedom as a core element of democratic resilience and peace.
4. Protect nature and ecosystems endangered by militarization
- Acknowledge the severe environmental damage caused by ongoing warfare and military infrastructure.
- Establish cross-border ecological monitoring of pollution, deforestation, and contamination resulting from military operations.
- Redirect resources from militarization toward ecological restoration and green reconstruction of affected regions.
- Include environmental protection within all humanitarian and post-conflict recovery frameworks.
5. Cross-cutting principles
- Uphold international human rights and humanitarian law as binding norms, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CEDAW, and the Aarhus Convention.
- Guarantee freedom of conscience, association, and expression for all who defend peace, non-violence, and human dignity.
- Promote transnational solidarity between civil societies resisting war, authoritarianism, and ecological destruction.
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