Protection Concept

The following is our current protection concept against sexual violence and discrimination. You may be familiar with the term “protection concept” from working with children and adolescents. However, here we are explicitly referring to interactions between adults. Our children’s tent team receives additional training specifically on child protection.

In our community, we attach great importance to considerate behaviour towards one another and respecting personal boundaries. We therefore want to be sensitized and attentive to the boundaries of others as well as our own boundaries. With this protection concept, we recognize that there is no place that is free from discrimination and boundary violations, not even this camp.

With this concept, we want to create the basis for everyone to feel safe and comfortable. We can only achieve this together, which is why we would like to invite you all to take collective responsibility for this. Additional to this collective responsibility, there is also an Awareness Team.

Code of Conduct

You have the right:

• To be left alone if you want.
• To decide for yourself what you are comfortable with.
• To set clear boundaries if someone disregards that.
• To decide for yourself how close someone may come to you, when, how and where.
• Nobody is allowed to touch you against your will.
• To say ‘no’. You can say ‘no’ with words or through your body language.
• To decide which name and pronoun to use for yourself.
• To get support from the Awareness Team if you feel uncomfortable or discriminated against.

We encourage you to make your rights a living reality. By participating in the camp, you agree that you will do your best to respect these rights with other people.

Please note that we reserve the right to exclude people who do not adhere to these guidelines from the event.

The Awareness-Team

This team is there to support you if:

• Your personal boundaries have been disregarded.
• You feel harassed or discriminated against.
• You want support in standing up for your rights.

The Awareness Team offers:

• A safe space where you can process what you have experienced.
• Listening to you.
• Working together to find out what could help you.
• Mediating in conflict situations.

Who is part of the Awareness Team?

The Awareness Team consists of Latifa and Isha. There are other members of the extended Awareness Team who will be present and available during the events. You can recognize them by their rainbow-colored armbands.

You can reach the Awareness Team as follows:

• By approaching a person wearing a rainbow-colored armband, or speaking directly to Latifa or Isha.
• By calling the emergency telephone number: +49 (0) 1575 7137 640

What happens if I contact the Awareness Team?

The Awareness Team focuses on the needs and feelings of the person who has been affected and treats them with empathy and support. The focus is not on what happened or who did it, whether someone is right or someone did something wrong, but on the well-being of the person affected – true to the principle: ‘When in doubt, give the affected person the benefit of the doubt.’

The Awareness Team provides space for your stories, feelings, and needs.

The Awareness Team supports you in dealing with the situation. We discuss every step with you. You can decide for yourself to what extent you want to be involved in the further process.

The Awareness Team acts in accordance with the code of conduct.

Definition of terms

Sexism:

Discrimination, devaluation, and oppression of people based on their (biologically assigned) gender. Sexism occurs on an individual level (interpersonal contact), a structural level (institutions, pay, etc.), and a societal level (role models, expectations, etc.).

Racism:

Discrimination, devaluation, and oppression of people based on their actual or presumed ethnic origin. Racism affects individuals (interpersonal contact), institutions (institutions, pay, etc.), and society (role models, expectations, etc.).

Ableism:

Discrimination, devaluation, and oppression of people based on their physical or cognitive abilities. The term comes from the English word “able,” meaning “to be capable.” Ableism operates on an individual level (interpersonal contact), a structural level (institutions, pay, etc.), and a societal level (role models, expectations, etc.).

Power:

The ability to influence, change, and shape people and situations, including making decisions. Power is closely linked to privilege. Privilege leads to power, and conversely, power is a privilege. Privilege often runs along unequal power lines in terms of gender, ethnicity, ability, social background, etc.

Boundary violation:

Boundary violations are any behaviors that unintentionally violate the boundaries of another person, regardless of age or gender. It is important to note that personal boundaries are subjective and therefore differ from person to person. A person’s subjective boundaries can also change from situation to situation: consent is reversible. What is okay for a person in one situation may not be okay in another moment. Boundary violations can also occur on an emotional level, for example when a person demands emotional support from another person who is unable or unwilling to provide it at that moment.

Assault:

Behavior that deliberately disregards and/or crosses the boundaries of others. Assault occurs when verbal or nonverbal boundaries are deliberately crossed. The line between boundary-violating behavior (unintentional) and assaultive behavior (intentional) is often blurred.

Abuse/coercion:

Any actions that violate a person’s sexual self-determination. These actions are therefore often also criminal offenses.

Sexual violence:

Any (sexual) acts performed on or in front of a person against their will, or to which the person cannot knowingly consent due to their physical, mental, intellectual, or linguistic inferiority. Sexual violence is a violent form of abuse of power.

Prevention:

Prevention means taking precautions. In practice, prevention work involves implementing various measures that help to prevent sexual violence. Prevention work can also mean initiating education on the subject and raising awareness of the issue. This creates spaces where it is possible to talk about sexual violence, thereby removing the taboo surrounding it. Prevention can include rules, procedures, and structures that aim to counteract sexual violence as effectively as possible. It should be made clear to (potential) perpetrators that this issue is being addressed here, so they have no chance of committing a crime and/or going undetected.

Awareness:

Awareness and sensitivity to an issue, in this case sexual violence. It also stands for an attitude and practice that counteracts discrimination and (sexual) violence and promotes action based on compassion.