They were told to assemble in Gao's market place at dusk. A man accused of using tobacco was escorted before the crowd by several members of the al-Qaida splinter group Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa.
"Then they chopped off his hand. They wanted to show us what they could do," said Ahmed, 39, a meat trader from the town in northern Mali.
InterAction is seeking examples of tools, resources and other materials that have been used in protection programming to demonstrate measurable change and true impact. This call for examples is part of a new project, launched by InterAction's Protection Working Group, to develop and promote good practice for results-based approaches within protection.
InterAction welcomes the launch of the newly-revised Professional Standards for Protection Work, and encourages humanitarian and human rights actors worldwide to adopt and integrate them into their work. The first version of these Professional Standards was published in 2009, and the shifting challenges that humanitarian and human rights actors face have prompted an update.