Resources
The following are publications about various aspects of casualty recording from Campaign members and others which contain argument, analysis and comment on the need to record every casualty.
See also items tagged campaign in news & views, and our audio and video materials.
For more information about any of these resources, please contact the team.
Losing Sight of the Human Costs: Casualty Recording and Remote Control Warfare (2014)
Changes in military engagement, towards more covert and remotely operated ways of using armed force, are an evolving trend. Commissioned by the Remote Control Project, this paper explores the specific practical and policy challenges posed to casualty recording by this, and how these might be met through the strengthening of both state and independent practice.
How the Counts Reduce the Casualties (2014)
Casualty Recording: Assessing State and United Nations Practices (2014)
Casualty Recording as an Evaluative Capability: Libya and the Protection of Civilians (2013)
Policy Paper: Towards the Recording of Every Casualty: Policy Recommendations and Analysis From a Study of 40 Casualty Recorders (2012)
Advocacy Sheet: Recording casualties and the UN Programme of action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (2012)
A Charter for the Recognition of Every Casualty of Armed Violence (2011)
Civil Society Statement: Principles on Armed Violence Measurement and Monitoring (2011)
Working Paper: The Legal Obligation to Record Civilian Casualties of Armed Conflict (2011)
Discussion Paper: Drone Attacks, International Law, and the Recording of Civilian Casualties of Armed Conflict (2011)
This Every Casualty discussion paper looks at the legal obligation to record civilan casualties in the context of unmanned drone attacks in South Asia and the Middle East. There is a requirement in law for those who use or authorise the use of drone strikes to account for the civilian casualties that result from them and to ensure that a mechanism is put in place to guarantee compliance with international law. This is not currently complied with.
Lessons of History: British War Dead in the 1940s and Public Protest (2011)
In this guest article, historian Seumas Spark explains that public pressure was a critical factor in forcing the British state to afford better treatment to the national war dead. Current practice ensures that the identity and location of British military dead are recorded promptly and accurately and the wishes of bereaved relatives are accommodated: the catalyst for this was public pressure exerted on the military establishment in the 1940s. The author argues that public pressure may prove to be a similarly decisive factor in ensuring that every casualty of contemporary conflict is recorded.
Policy Paper: Measuring and Monitoring Armed Violence (2010)
In Everyone's Interest: recording all the dead, not just our own (2009)
This article, originally published in the British Army Review and co-authored by Every Casualty with a British Army Colonel, argues that Britain and the British Army has powerful, pragmatic reasons for both collating and releasing information on civilian casualties in war zones. It also demonstrates that such mechanisms would be easily implementable, and cost little.
Bold New Claims, No New Evidence: NATO's 'avoidance' of civilian harm needs measuring, not re-stating (2009)
On the 22 of October 2009 NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen posted a video message on his website in response to the question, "For every taliban you kill how many of the civilian population to you kill or injure? Do you expect those injured will see you as liberators from the taliban tyranny?" This article by Every Casualty examines Rasmussen's claim that civilian casualties are down, arguing that this needs to be supported with transparent records of all casualties.
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