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The devastation of civilians in contemporary conflicts represents a humanitarian disaster of stunning proportions. The current ratio of military to civilian casualties is approximately one to eight while 90% of wars are civil wars in the new century. Such devastation is systematically embedded in the character of modern warfare, and often interpreted, or justified, as 'collateral damage'. Why do civilians, or faceless humans, die in far greater numbers than do military combatants? Why do militant protagonists inflict much greater devastation on noncombatants than do they on the combatant foes? How to construct strategies for enhancing civilian participation in the society and affirm civilian protection?
The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution brings together experts from many disciplines and professionals to examine the scale and scope of civilian casualties in contemporary violent conflict, discuss the sources of civilian devastation in military rules of engagement, strategies of conquest, and even international laws of war, to develop modes of practice that seeks to reduce civilian casualties in the future conflicts, and also to design strategies for enhancing civilian participation in the society and affirm civilian protection:
Speakers:
Chris Hedges, author and senior fellow at The Nation Institute, New York
Hugo Slim, Director of Corporates for Crisis, London, England
Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch
Fathali M. Moghaddam Director of the Conflict Resolution Program, Georgetown University
Sarah Holewinski, Executive Director at Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
Sara Cobb, Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Alexander Downes, Department of Political Science, Duke University
Donald Daniel, Georgetown University
Aaron X. Fellmeth, Arizona State University
Neta Crawford, Boston University
Christopher Mitchell, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Susan Hirsch, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Dennis Sandole, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Chaplain Ira Houck, U.S. Army War College Senior Service Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Jon B. Gould, the Center for Justice, Law and Society, George Mason University
Andrea Bartoli, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Daniel Rothbart, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Karina Korostelina, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Neta Oren, visiting scholar, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Media inquires: Please contact the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (703) 993 1300, Mohammed Cherkaoui (202) 375 3184, or Dr. Daniel Rothbart (703) 993-4474.