The Beyond Compliance Consortium

Our research is grounded in and responds to the reality of war. Working co-productively with humanitarian organisations and the FCDO, we aim to generate new ways of thinking that translate into practical, effective tools that policy-makers, operational actors, and civilian communities themselves can employ in their humanitarian efforts.

The urgent challenges that communities caught up in armed conflict are facing right now cannot be met by any single actor, nor by one body of law. This academic-practitioner collaboration will focus on the everyday lived experience of armed conflict, with the shared ambition of better understanding – and addressing – the drivers of humanitarian need and civilian harm in war.

There is still much to be learnt on how international humanitarian law and other legal regimes applicable in armed conflict capture the lived experiences of civilians in armed conflict, and the potential of different actors, including civilian communities to contribute to a compliance ecosystem which is defined not only by restraint but also protection.

By delving into the nuances of compliance and restraint in armed conflict, the programme will provide invaluable insights to everyone trying to understand how States and non-State armed groups operate. Understanding these dynamics is paramount, as it can serve to mitigate the devastating impact conflicts have on civilian populations around the globe.