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…
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) ‘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…
Up to 13 civilians a day are being killed in Yemen, according to a recent report from the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The report documents allegations of abuses and violations of international humanitarian law against Yemen’s civilians in that country’s civil conflict; deplores the use of cluster bombs, banned…
By Kevin Gustafson This week Muslims around the world marked Eid al-Adha, a holy day in which sacrifice and charity are celebrated. As Syrian Muslims observed the occasion, the implementation of a new ceasefire agreement gave additional reasons to give thanks. While the agreement appears to be largely holding, though there have been reports of…
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…
It took a decade of advocacy and practical progress on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan to get to President Obama’s executive order on the protection of civilians, which was released on July 1. The effort included numerous players including non-governmental organizations and military and government officials—all concerned about the lack of standing civilian harm…
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…