When people are forced to flee their homes, they often experience ongoing threats to their safety. At the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), we help to ensure displaced people and communities are protected, by preventing and responding to violence, coercion, and actions taken by others to deny them their rights.

Protection is about safety, dignity and rights. It is about people being safe from the violence or abuse during an armed conflict or natural disaster. We work to reduce risks for displaced people and strengthen their capacity for self-protection by resolving violence through mediation, we strive to ensure that displaced people can live in safety and dignity.

Community safety and violence prevention

There is growing recognition that the most effective protection measures are those that involve the people and communities at risk from violence and empower them to protect themselves.

Individual protection services

Some protection response services, such as those involving child protection and gender-based violence, are well established and defined. However, many civilians experience protection violations for which there are limited response options. For example, ex-combatants may be targeted because of their links to opposition groups, while older community members may be exploited because of their perceived vulnerabilities. We provide protection case identification and referrals

Thought leadership and influence

We work to mobilize and influence the humanitarian community to invest in specialized protection services and consciously contribute to better protection outcomes.