Monitor
Airwars closely monitors conflicts, to help improve understanding of how recent wars have impacted on civilians. Our regional researchers track local civilian harm allegations from news outlets and social media, with a present focus on Iraq, Syria and Libya. Other sources we monitor include international and local civic society groups; military reporting; and claims by non-state actors. Together, our monitoring helps reveal what civilians themselves are experiencing during times of war.
Assess
Airwars assesses each civilian harm incident to determine who was allegedly killed or injured, and by which belligerent. As a transparency organisation, we archive every known source, including associated imagery. All assessments are published in our growing civilian casualties database, alongside the names of thousands of reported victims. Since we began in 2014, we have tracked and assessed tens of thousands of reported civilian deaths in conflicts.
Engage
Our primary aim at Airwars is to help reduce harm to civilians. We do this both by improving public knowledge of how battlefield casualties occur; and by working where we can with militaries – helping them to improve their own understanding and admission of where, when and how civilians are harmed. Our advocacy team also engages with politicians and with broader civic society, to ensure civilian harm issues are given the highest priority.
Investigate
Airwars works closely with journalists and researchers in the field - helping them to better identify reported civilian harm claims. And we also incorporate their findings into our own research - ensuring we build up as comprehensive a picture of battlefield casualties as we can. Through partnerships with major news organisations, our investigators have also published numerous in-depth reports on civilian harm - which in turn can help change public and political understanding.
