Ali Al-Assaf is CIVIC’s Country Director in Iraq. Along with our Iraq team, Ali engages with civilians on a regular basis to learn about their protection concerns and thoughts on the security situation in their communities. Two years after the fall of the Islamic State in the historic city of Mosul, civilians have begun to…
The future of the conflict in Ukraine may be uncertain. But protecting civilians better—and doing so consistently and transparently—will help set the framework for a peaceful and secure future, whatever that may ultimately look like.
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…
By Kevin Gustafson, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) Colombia’s half-century-long conflict is rapidly coming to close. On Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), released the final text of a peace agreement four years in the making, and President Juan Manuel Santos has called…
When Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) was founded as Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict in 2003, it was as a one-woman mission to get recognition for the victims of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Marla Ruzicka believed that the US government should not walk away from the unintended victims of their military…
Seven years ago, the world lost a passionate advocate for civilians caught in the crossfire. Today, CIVIC will have a moment of silence in remembrance of our founder Marla Ruzicka and her Iraqi colleague Faiz Ali Salim. We’ll pause our work at 2 PM EST, and we invite you to do the same. Marla’s life…
By Catherine Philp Nine years ago in the bright Kabul spring, I met a young woman called Marla Ruzicka. She was hard to miss, with her wild blonde hair and animal pyjamas peeking out from the hem of her long kameez. She was harder still to miss the morning she marched to the gates of…
01 April 2009 | Submitted Testimony of Jonathan Tracy, former Center military legal advisor, to US Senate Committee on Appropriations on the history of the Foreign Claims Act and Condolence Payments and ways forward. Jonathan Tracy Testimony, State & Foreign Ops Hearing ### Notes to editors: Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)’s mission is to improve…