April is a tough month for CIVIC’s family and friends. Every April 16, we remember our founder and inspiration, Marla Ruzicka, who was killed in Baghdad in 2005. And on April 20, we pause to remember her friend, and friend of CIVIC, award-winning photographer Chris Hondros.
On April 16, 2005, the world lost the founder of Center for Civilians in Conflict (then known as the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, or CIVIC). Marla Ruzicka, a vibrant, passionately caring woman, was traveling on the road between Baghdad and the international airport with her Iraqi colleague, Faiz Ali Salim, when a suicide…
In the 16th year—and third administration—of the US war against al-Qaeda and affiliated forces, questions remain in both policy and law about how the US government will approach the use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations. What is the prognosis for preserving or replacing the Presidential Policy Guidance and related Executive Orders? How will operational decisions…
How An Ignored U.S. War In The Middle East Is Affecting Civili… A U.S.-backed coalition has been bombing Yemen for almost 2 years, causing the majority of the 10,000+ deaths in the conflict there. The coalition and Iran-backed rebels are responsible for civilian deaths, starvation and economic chaos in one of the poorest countries in…
Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) on Monday announced the addition of two staff members in January 2017, as it prepares to expand its operations and mission to improve protection for civilians caught in conflicts around the world. It also created the new position of Senior Military Advisor. Dan Mahanty, formerly of the U.S. Department…
United Nations peacekeeping troops often take the blame for mission failures, but a recent op-ed by Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)’s Peacekeeping Advisor Lauren Spink argues that the UN Security Council and Secretariat must share in accountability for peacekeeping operation failures and enact meaningful reform to support field operations.
Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) ‘s own Sahr Muhammedally, senior program manager for the Middle East, is in northern Iraq right now while the offensive against Mosul grinds on. She has witnessed thousands of civilians fleeing east into Kurdish territory seeking safety from the self-styled Islamic State (also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh…
President Obama just released Executive Order — United States Policy on Pre- and Post-Strike Measures to Address Civilian Casualties in U.S. Operations Involving the Use of Force, and it’s hugely important to civilians caught in conflicts around the world—this is what we at CIVIC have been working toward for the last decade. And though there…
In Hiroshima on May 27, President Obama laid a wreath at the Peace Memorial there and, recalling the horrors of nuclear conflict and the devastating toll on that city’s civilians, called for a “moral revolution” in how the world thinks about war.