Civilian Casualties (CIVCAS)
218 Articles

Power Politics Obstructs Protection of Civilians in — and After — the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Five measures that Azerbaijan and Armenia, along with Russia, Turkey, and the international community must take now to improve conditions.

Biden Must Stick to His Pledge to End US Support for the Yemen War
The war in Yemen is a global mark of shame, and the resulting humanitarian disaster threatens the lives of 24 million people.

Defense Policy Negotiations Near Completion in Congress, With Human Rights Provisions in Play
Issues at stake include militarization of law enforcement, civilian casualties, military base renaming, arms transfers, and more.

Human Shields and Proportionality: How Legal Experts Defended War Crimes in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan Civil War constitutes an unprecedented case in terms of the number of people who were framed as human shields and the mobilization of prominent human rights…

Anticipating the Human Costs of Great Power Conflict
Conspicuously absent from policy and planning documents about great power conflict is a clear-eyed assessment of the likely human costs of such a conflict or considerations for…

Plan to Pull U.S. Troops from Somalia is Cold Comfort Amid Civilian Toll of Air War
AFRICOM insists its aim is to ‘degrade’ al-Shabaab. But the US military campaign is taking a heavy toll on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Five Years On: Military Accountability and the Attack on the MSF Trauma Center in Kunduz
On the fifth anniversary of the tragic attack by the U.S. military on the Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) trauma center in Kunduz, Afghanistan, a former U.S. military legal adviser…

Online Symposium on Civilian Casualties: The Law of Prevention and Response
An important symposium series, “Civilian Casualties: The Law of Prevention and Response,” is kicking off on Wednesday (September 30) at noon EDT.

State Dept. Inspector General Report: A Troubling Message on Arms Sales
"A stunning revelation given the repeated, severe cases of civilian casualties resulting from Saudi-led Coalition operations over the past several years."
AFRICOM’s Improved Civilian Casualty Reporting System Still Leaves Gaps for Somalia
Only with more ways to submit reports and the proper followup can the U.S. military start to rebuild trust among communities harmed by its actions.

DOD’s New Ex Gratia Policy: What’s Right, What’s Wrong, and What’s Next
On June 22, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued an interim policy regulation for providing ex gratia payments to civilians harmed as a result of U.S. military operations. It…

Toward a Consistent and Coherent Ex Gratia Policy for Civilian Casualties
The summer of 2017 was an extended nightmare for the Badrans. Over the course of several weeks, 39 members of Rasha Badran’s family, most of them women and children, were killed…