PERSPECTIVE| FES NEW YORK Minding the Gap Approaches and Challenges to Robust Civilian Protection ROBERT SCHÜTTE December 2011  Protection of civilians from mass atrocity crimes has emerged as a prominent field of international action. United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as armed forces of regional actors such AU, EU, ECOWAS and NATO have in the past conducted military operations with the objective to secure civilians threatened by violence.  Over the past decade, UN peacekeeping missions have played a pivotal role in protecting untold vulnerable communities from systematic human rights violations. Moreover, the resolute implementation of the so called responsibility to protect in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire in 2011 has underlined the principal feasibility of successful Mass Atrocity Response Operations.  Despite these developments, little conceptual work has so far been accomplished on how to operationalize protection of civilians on the ground. Neither the UN nor NATO possess a comprehensive doctrine that guides the preparation, implementation and benchmarking of civilian protection missions. Bridging this conceptual gap will be essential to curbing systematic abuses of human rights and providing vulnerable populations with a modicum of human security.