Secrecy around UK military civilian harm ‘risks undermining public confidence’ | Military
The British government’s secrecy about how it tracks civilian deaths in military operations in the UK risks undermining public confidence in the process, a court has found.
The UK, unlike its closest ally the United States, has no published guidance on how to investigate and evaluate claims that civilians have been killed or injured in an attack.
The decision was made after a reaction freedom of information case He was brought in by conflict monitor Airwars as part of an investigation into the UK’s record in the bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
The United States, which leads the coalition of countries providing air support in the war against ISIS, has admitted that more than 1,400 civilians were killed in its attacks.
Airwars was seeking more information about the only civilian death acknowledged by the UK. The British government announced in May 2018 that a civilian had been killed in an attack targeting three fighters in eastern Syria earlier that year; but the attack was not recorded in civilian casualty records kept by the US-led coalition and did not appear on the UK’s list of attacks that killed militants. Syrian human rights groups had no record of a civilian killed in that area that day.
The judge ruled against Airwars based on national security considerations presented in closed court and was therefore excluded from the decision. But it also found that British voters had a legitimate interest in the “nature, comprehensiveness and robustness” of the procedures for assessing harm. “The absence of any published procedure has the potential to undermine public confidence in the integrity and comprehensiveness of this procedure,” the decision said.
“While there is no reason to doubt the good faith and competence of all involved, high-level assurances do not provide the same confidence as a published procedure that can be scrutinised.”
In the decision, it was stated that the public’s lack of information about this process increased the interest in information about the attack investigated by Airwars.
A Ministry of Defense official told the court that British politicians had the final say on whether to accept the assessment that British forces were killing civilians. one in the USA special “civilian damage assessment cell” makes this judgment.
Airwars said the decision was an important confirmation of the need for greater transparency regarding harm to civilians in military operations in the UK. Airwars director Emily Tripp said: “The judge ruled that the British people have a right to know that civilians are being killed in our name.”
“Although we did not receive the documents we requested, this court decision is important as official recognition of the damaging impact that the UK’s lack of a public civilian harm policy has had on the British public, military and civilians.”
