Religious leaders, armed conflict and COVID-19

CAHR researchers are mapping religious actors’ activities and interpretations of international humanitarian law relating to armed conflicts in Colombia, Libya, Mali and Myanmar. The research is part of the ESRC-funded project Generating Respect for Humanitarian Norms: The Influence of Religious Leaders on Parties to Armed Conflict.

The project has responded rapidly to the COVID-19 realities by seeking to examine the messages that religious leaders have put forward in relation to the epidemic, and whether and how they have influenced parties to the conflict.

CAHR’s Ioana Cismas, the project’s principal investigator, notes: “Religious leaders are ‘not the usual suspects’ when one thinks of influencers of armed actors’ behaviour in war. Yet, our researchers have produced exceptionally rich material, which illustrates that these actors can exert significant influence. We are working to understand the fine-grained factors and conditions that explain this influence, and determine when states and non-state armed groups refrain from violating humanitarian norms.”