UK military has no mechanisms to detect civilian casualties

The UK military has no way of detecting civilian casualties in war, a new study shows. And even processes developed during the failed occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan have now been virtually abandoned. The revelation came about after an information request by the armed conflict monitor Ceasefire.

Additionally, the Guardian reported on 5 May:

The MoD also “does not maintain a central register of civilian harm incidents or allegations” and, despite mass casualties caused by other countries, has concluded there is no need to do so because its existing mitigation is considered effective.

The MOD study, prompted by Ceasefire’s request, said old processes which:

led to the payments of £31.8m in more than 6,500 cases relating to incidents of civilian death, injury and torture relating to Iraq and Afghanistan – have now “fallen into disuse”…

The news comes shortly after it was revealed:

that the Foreign Office was closing its international humanitarian law unit, which investigates the conduct of other countries.

The Conflict and Security Monitoring Project has reported on evidence of civilian casualties in Gaza. A cross-party group of MPs questioned:

what steps the Foreign Office would take to retain access to the database of 26,000 incidents dating to 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched its attack on Israel, prompting Israel’s military response in Gaza.

While MP Iqbal Mohammed said:

This looks to me less like routine restructuring and more like a deliberate weakening of scrutiny. It could also be seen as the deliberate destruction of evidence of war crimes and genocide.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) released a summary of the existing processes, admitting it “lacks a coherent policy framework” for monitoring civilian deaths.

Ceasefire’s advocacy officer Mae Thompson said:

The UK’s inability to detect civilian harm calls into question its ability to comply with international humanitarian law, which requires states to take ‘constant care’ to spare the civilian population and take ‘all feasible precautions’ to avoid or minimise civilian harm.

Megan Karlshøj-Pedersen, a policy specialist at the NGO Airwars, said:

The UK does not have systems in place to monitor what happens to civilians after it conducts an airstrike.

Adding:

The most lethal arm of the state is not capable of understanding the human cost of its actions.

The MOD summary stated:

In contrast to the Dutch and US, the UK has lacked a galvanising [event] whereby the mass civilian casualties have forced the need and political urgency to strengthen its response systems.

Clearly, the UK military should not wait for a mass casualty event to happen to get itself into gear. The fact it has let War on Terror era mechanisms fall out of use — and closed its Gaza monitoring program — suggests something… Whether it is an indifference to civilian deaths or sheer idleness is unclear. Either way, the ministry certainly shouldn’t require a massacre in some future war for it to put proper processes into effect.

Featured image via Reuters