War and Casualty Recording in the 21st century
University of Keele School of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations & Environment International Workshop.
Time: Thursday, 22 September 2016, 10am-4.00p.m.
Location: Keele University, Chancellors Building, Room: CBA0.005
An international workshop at Keele University on Thursday will look at the Chilcot recommendation that governments must record civilian deaths and casualties during military operations.
The workshop will draw delegates from voluntary organisations, former military personnel and academics who are concerned that civilian casualty figures are ignored or even suppressed during armed conflict.
The Chilcot Report on the Iraq War has called for the British government in particular, but all governments in general, to ensure they keep an accurate record of civilians killed and injured during military operations.
Workshop convenors Prof Bulent Gokay of Keele University and Dr Lily Hamourtziadou of Iraq Body Count said “There is a growing awareness that armies have virtually no way of assessing the impact of planned military operations and are reluctant to count causalities. Our workshop will address this issue and hopefully put an end to the flippant use of the phrase ‘collateral damage’ when describing civilian deaths.”
Dr Lily Hamourtziadou, a speaker at the workshop, added “More than 182,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. So far in September 2016 there have already been over 400 killed. It is unacceptable that these deaths are not accurately recorded. Too often, civilians are the forgotten victims of war.”