You can now learn more about the work of PAX via podcasts. Podcasts are easiest to listen to via your laptop, tablet or smartphone with apps such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
PAX Podcasts
The Civilian Protection Podcast
Every day, 100 civilians are killed in conflict and countless more are harmed, often without recognition, recourse, or justice. Yet their perspectives are repeatedly missing from the stories we tell about war and the way we think about war’s costs.
The Civilian Protection Podcast, brought to you by CIVIC and PAX, shares the voices of people affected by war, the dangers they face, the choices they make, and what can be done to better protect them — because we believe it’s time to put them at the center of the discussion.
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Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) envisions a world in which no civilian is harmed in conflict. We support communities affected by conflict in their quest for protection and strengthen the resolve and capacity of armed actors to prevent and respond to civilian harm.
PAX works to protect civilians living in conflict. Our purpose is to reduce civilian harm, end armed violence and build sustainable peace around the world. To achieve this, we work closely with civil society and authorities at local and international levels to put civilian perspectives first.
More about Protection of Civilians.
The Civilian Protection Podcast – Season 3
War in Sudan
In Season 3 of the Civilian Protection Podcast, we’re exploring civilian protection issues in the news – as well as what the headlines might be missing. This episode brings us to the conflict in Sudan, which, since April 2023, has continued to exact a horrifying toll on civilians. Kholood Khair, Founder and Director of the Sudanese think-and-do tank Confluence Advisory, discusses what is happening in Sudan and why, the resulting attacks on civilians and civic space, and what communities are doing about it.
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The Civilian Protection Podcast – Season 2
Community-Based Protection in Nigeria
Civilians are not simply victims of armed conflict, but people with agency and expertise about the conflicts they are living in. In this episode, guest host Bulus Mungopark of CIVIC brings us to northeast Nigeria, where we explore successful community-led efforts to advocate for their own protection needs amid ongoing violence.
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Police Performance in South Sudan: The Law Enforcement Gap
In this episode, Annie and Marc take us to South Sudan where they interview people about civilian perceptions of local police performance, the challenges people face in seeking effective police assistance, and what may happen when people start looking for alternative sources of protection.
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Conflict, Climate, and the Environment. Part 2: Iraq and Yemen
In S2E2, we explored the impact of conflict on the natural environment, and in turn, on civilian lives, in Ukraine. In this episode, we bring you to Iraq and Yemen to explore the reverse: how climate change can serve as a driver of conflict, and in turn, affect civilians.
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Conflict, Climate, and the Environment, Part 1: Ukraine
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the human toll of the war has been devastating. But obscured by news about fatalities, injuries and material damages is the longer-term impact of this conflict. In this episode, we’ll explore the environmental degradation caused by military operations in Ukraine and its consequences for civilians, and discuss why protecting the environment is an essential part of protecting civilians.
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A Landmark Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
The bombing of towns and cities, or the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, leads to vast civilian harm, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and long-term humanitarian consequences.In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the signing of a landmark political declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), signed by over 80 nations in Dublin last month.
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Made in the USA: Arms Sales & Civilian Harm
On April 22, 2018, planes belonging to the Saudi- and Emirati-led Coalition dropped a bomb on a wedding celebration in Al-Raqa village, in Yemen. The attack killed 21 civilians, including eleven children, and injured 97 people. And it did so using a bomb that was made and sold in the United States. In this episode, we explore the US arms trade system and policies that made this, and so many incidents like it, possible.
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The Civilian Protection Podcast – Season 1
Episode 1: More than numbers
In 2014, ISIS, also known as Daesh, seized the city of Mosul, Iraq, and a battle involving ISIS, American-led coalition forces, and national Iraqi forces ensued. It was then that Iraqi historian Omar Mohammed began to document cases of civilian harm on his anonymous blog, Mosul Eye, risking his life to ensure history would remember their names.
Bonus materials: Go to www.protectionofcivilians.org to download the full interview with Omar Mohammed from Mosul Eye and find out more about his work.
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Episode 2: In Search of Answers
In Somalia, a family sits down to eat. Before dinner is over, their lives have been irreversibly changed. A U.S. airstrike had hit their home. Unfortunately, this is not an unfamiliar scene for civilians living in conflict-affected areas. Speaking with experts from Somalia and Yemen, this episode explores what happens after harm, and the challenges civilians face trying to get answers, recognition, and amends.
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Episode 3: People-centered Peacekeeping
A people-centered approach to UN Peacekeeping makes sense as a concept– listen and learn from the communities you are mandated to protect — but how is it actually implemented in practice? Speaking with experts from the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and United Nations Headquarters, this episode explores the need for applying a people-centered approach in peacekeeping contexts and the complexities of effectively implementing this approach.
Listen to the introduction to the Civilian Protection Podcast via:
Episode 4: Afghanistan: A Legacy of Harm
In August 2021, U.S. and international forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. In this episode, we sit down with Shaharzad Akbar, Chairperson for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, to explore the legacy of civilian harm left behind and what it means for Afghan civilians moving forward.
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Episode 5: Reverberating effects: The Aftermath of Hawija
In June 2015, Dutch F-16s carried out an airstrike on an ISIS ammunition factory in the Iraqi town of Hawija, causing considerable harm beyond what was anticipated. In this episode, Mohammed Abdulkareem Khthar, Head of Programs at Iraqi NGO Al-Ghad, and Dutch journalist Judit Neurink explain the impact of the airstrike on the people in Hawija, both in the immediate aftermath of the strike and in the years that followed, and why they think it’s time for acknowledgement from the Dutch government.
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Episode 6 – The Invasion of Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since that day, thousands of civilians have been killed or injured and over ten million people have been internally displaced or fled Ukraine as refugees. In this episode, CIVIC colleagues in Ukraine share their experiences living through the war, the dangers facing civilians, and what must be done to protect them.
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Trailer: An introduction to the Civilian Protection Podcast
Hosts Annie Shiel, Senior Advisor for US Policy and Advocacy at CIVIC, and Marc Garlasco, Military Advisor at PAX, introduce the Civilian Protection Podcast. This podcast, brought to you by CIVIC and PAX, shares the voices of people affected by war, the dangers they face, the choices they make, and what can be done to better protect them — because we believe it’s time to put them at the center of the discussion.
Listen to the introduction to the Civilian Protection Podcast via:
PAX Palestine Podcast
In Palestine, PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting security and equality in the political, cultural and social spheres, and in combating injustice resulting from the long occupation. In the PAX Palestine Podcast you can listen to interviews with our local Palestinian partners. In several episodes, we tune in with several partners of PAX, like the World Council of Churches, YMCA East Jerusalem and many other organisations, who tell you all about their experiences and work in Palestine.
More information on the Israel and Palestine program can be found here.
PAX Palestine Podcast – Episodes
Episode 1 – EAPPI
Solidarity with the oppressed and walking shoulder to shoulder with them – this is the essence of EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel). After a call for help from Palestinian Christian leaders in 2002, EAPPI was founded by the World Council of Churches. EAPPI forms a continuous presence of Ecumenical Accompaniers who observe and report human rights violations in East-Jerusalem and the West Bank and support and protect Palestinians who suffer from occupation, oppression and marginalization every day.
Our host Kristel speaks with Jack Munayer, Coördinator of EAPPI, and Annelies, who has worked as an Accompanier in the West Bank herself. Can the presence of Accompaniers lead to structural change? What is it like to accompany children to school, who would otherwise be intimidated by soldiers? And how do you keep motivated in the midst of injustice and powerlessness? These and many more questions are discussed in the first episode of the PAX Palestine Podcast.
Episode 2 – Elections en Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy
“Don’t talk politics”. In Palestine, political engagement among youth is not stimulated and even discouraged. The Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy wants to change this. Because how can new generations make a change without any political awareness or engagement?
In the second episode, Kristel is joined by Naseef Muallem and Ikram Zubaydi, who talk about the work of PCPD, youth participation and elections in Palestine. They want young Palestinians to express their interests, wishes and worries. Young Palestinian generations face a lot of obstacles, like economic instability, persistent patriarchal structures and continuous occupation. In order to realize positive changes for a better tomorrow, or rather a better today, their voices need to be heard. Tune in for our second episode to hear how the PCPD wants to get this done.
Episode 3 – Resilience in the South-Hebron Hills with Danish Church Aid and YMCA
“Teach a man how to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime”. No, says George Zeidan from Danish Church Aid (DCA). Palestinians know very well how to fish. What we need to do, is enable them to fish. Creating resilience and empowerment and fighting inequality. Those are the two crucial goals of DCA and the East Jerusalem YMCA in Palestine. Working on these issues is badly needed, especially in the South Hebron Hills. In this area, which falls under full Israeli military control, Palestinians don’t have anything to say about what happens on their land and in their villages, and access to the most basic facilities is denied.
DCA and the YMCA want to make a change. In the third and final episode of the PAX Palestine Podcast, George and May tell us how their organisations return empowerment and resilience to the Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills. Because would know better which changes are needed, than the communities themselves?
Episode 1 Season 2 – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media 7amleh about digital rights for Palestinians
PAX supports the work of 7amleh (pronounce Hamleh but the first H from the lower part of your throat). In this episode you can hear Nadim Nashif and Mona Shtaya who both work for the advancement of social media and digital rights in the Palestinian context.
We talk about several aspects of their work. For example how social media is censoring Palestinians and others with a pro-Palestinian message. Many Palestinians have their social media profiles shut down without a valid reason and it is often hard to counter that.
Another issue that 7amleh works on is digital security and the use of Israeli spyware on Palestinians and beyond. Recently there was a scandal when it was discovered that Pegasus malware, produced by the Israeli NSO group, was found on devices of human rights defenders, journalists and state representatives.
Other topics we discuss are PayPal, that doesn’t have integration for Palestinians to use with their local bank accounts, and Google Maps that does not show Palestinian cities and towns in the Westbank on their maps, while it does show clear details of illegal Israeli settlements.
Furthermore, we discussed a recent campaign to counter Hate Speech online. The campaign targets Palestinians to raise awareness about abusive language on social media and how to recognize it.
If you want to listen to episodes of Stories from Palestine podcast you can visit the linktree: https://linktr.ee/storiesfrompalestine
Episode 3 season 2: ‘Khazaeen’ cabinets, a living archive of Palestinian stories
In the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Israeli settlers are in the process of taking over many Palestinian houses, there is an archive where Palestinians can store their photos, diaries, posters and other tangible documents. It is the first Palestinian run archive that is trying to collect memories, history AND documents that are produced TODAY, to store them for future generations.
The initiative is called ‘Khazaeen’, the Arabic word for ‘cabinets’. Each Palestinian that brings documents to Khazaeen, gets its own box, its own cabinet, to store the documents. Through interviews, stories are collected and published on the blog of Khazaeen’s website and on social media. The items are digitized and the owner can decide to take them home or to leave them in the cabinet. In the process of collecting and bringing documents to Khazaeen, many Palestinians have learned about the life and circumstances of their own ancestors. Often this has helped them to understand their own family history and the generational trauma that has been passed on, especially through the experiences of the Nakba in 1948 and the Naksa in 1967.
“It is very important to write our own history and to collect our own archive, rather than having our history stored in the colonial archives of the State of Israel”, says Eman Elayyan. “It is also important to collect brochures, pamphlets, posters, photos and art work of today, so we can save it for the future.”
Syria
The day after the revolution
“It’s never: one day you have a dictator and the next day you have peace. What to do, the day after the revolution?”
Ten years ago, the ‘Arab Spring’ began in the Middle East and North Africa. A title full of hope. From Tunisia a revolutionary wind blew through many countries. The protests pushed through repressive regimes, corruption and abuse of power.
In this podcast, listen to three stories by Peshmerge, Lubna and Abdulazez who took to the streets in Syria at the risk of their own lives. Can you hear their call for freedom, even ten years later? ‘The day after the revolution’ is a podcast production made by Audio Collective Anomalie, i.c.w. PAX and The Great Middle East Platform.