Description
The paper contributes to the further nuance of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) integrating gendered perspectives. It argues that to make further advancements in the protection of women and civilians more generally, UCP must begin to recognise and maximise women’s agency, proactiveness and resilience in protecting themselves and fellow women/civilians in times of war. It does so, drawing on the feminist scholarship and field research on UCP in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict. The anglophone conflict has been ongoing since September 2017 between the government security forces and armed separatist groups calling for the independence of ‘Ambazonia’ in the country’s two English speaking regions- Northwest and Southwest. Still a hidden and neglected conflict, the Anglophone conflict has had devastating impact on civilian lives, especially women and children. Despite its impact, international and regional intervention have been close to non-existent, hence, civilians especially women, have had to device their own strategies, maximising homegrown, contemporary and non-violent approaches to protect themselves; what has become known as unarmed civilian protection. UCP is a relatively new concept and while it is gaining attention in academia and international spaces, its understanding through a feminist lens remains underexplored in research and scholarly literature especially with regards to Cameroon. Thus, the paper contributes to exploring and understanding women’s agency in UCP in Cameroon discussing the different non-violent protection strategies women and women groups employ, their accompanied challenges and implications for future discourse and implementation of UCP.
