By Federico Borello, CIVIC’s Executive Director Twenty years ago this month, on March 20, 2003, the United States launched its first airstrikes on Iraq. This marked the start of the US-led coalition’s invasion of Iraq and the long descent into the abyss for millions of Iraqis. This was also the start of our story. Center…
By Udo Jude Ilo The beauty of Niamey lies in the paradox of its peculiar landscape. On one side is the Niger River with its spectacular splendor, lush green boundaries, and crisscross of aquatic superhighways. And on the other side, the rugged terrain of dusty rocky fields – a stark reminder of the desert and…
By Vanja Kovac From November 25 to December 10, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) is joining the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, an annual global effort to raise awareness and call for the elimination and prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). The theme for this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based…
By Jasmine Phillips, Danique Kerkhof, Paul Wamp, Chris Knobloch In 2022, CIVIC partnered with the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University to examine contemporary challenges in the protection of civilians. Bachelors degree students in the integrated security studies project course divided into teams, and developed policy briefs for a range of institutional…
By Elizabeth Yoder From demands for reparations from Russia for civilian harm in Ukraine, to calls for reparations for Britain’s legacy of slavery after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, concepts like reparations and compensation have made recent headlines. This article explores what international law has to say about reparations, with a focus on accountability…
By Chris Brew & Lauren Spink The use of deception and disinformation in warfare is not new. Sun Tzu, a Chinese general and military strategist was already writing about the phenomenon in the 5th century BC. But disinformation—defined as the intentional dissemination of inaccurate or misleading information—no longer just travels by word-of-mouth or newspaper. Modern…
By Garret Dellwo For over 20 years, the use of force by the U.S. military has caused significant civilian harm in multiple parts of the world. Yet, the U.S. has accepted limited responsibility and taken few steps to assess and respond to this harm. A report, prepared for CIVIC as my master’s capstone project at…
As NATO nations celebrate the 70 year anniversary of the Alliance, CIVIC urges NATO leaders to address growing threats to human security, through placing the protection of civilians at the center of its military operations. A 25-year-old concept created by the United Nations1It was first used by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in their…
CIVIC started in 2003 when its founder Marla Ruzicka began going door to door in Iraq advocating for civilians that had been harmed during the conflict. Marla was killed in 2005 in an explosion in Baghdad, but her mission to protect and help civilians lives on today. In May 2019, Dropbox followed CIVIC team members…