US DoD Civilian Harm and Mitigation Response Plan – what is it, and what does it propose to do? - Marc Garlasco

Law and the Future of War

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On 25 Aug 2022, the US Department of Defense released its Civilian Harm and Mitigation Response Plan, which has been created, in part as a result of the public scrutiny on civilian casualty incidents following the Iraq campaign.

In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Marc Garlasco, who has been intimately involved with this issue, having been engaged in stakeholder engagement with the US DoD during their development of this plan when it was announced on 27 Jan 2022.

Marc has a long history of observing and reporting on civilian casualty incidents, using his understanding of the process garnered from his time as a a US intelligence analyst. He has served with HRW, as a senior civilian protection officer for United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA); and as the U.N. senior military advisor for the Human Rights Council's (HRC) Independent Commission of Inquiry on Libya, where he investigated civilian casualties while leading a survey of NATO's activities in Libya. He has worked with CNA on civilian harm mitigation, and co-hosts his own podcast, Civilian Protection with CIVIC.

He has been engaged in this Action Plan through his work with the NGO PAX since 2021 and will be talking to us today about the history of this Action Plan and his views on what it might do to address the causal issues identified across the numerous projects that have been analysing the contributing factors that result in civilian casualties.
Edited by Rosie Cavdarski.
Additional Resources

• Marco Garlasco, ‘Defense Department Finally Prioritizes Civilians in Conflict,’ Lawfare Blog (29 August 2022)
• Dan E. Stigall, Anna Williams, ‘An Improved Approach to Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response’ Articles of War Blog (Lieber Institute, Westpoint) (25 August 2022)
• RAND, U.S. Department of Defense Civilian Casualty Policies and Procedures An Independent Assessment (2022)
• See CivIC’s Report ‘In Search of Answers: U.S. Military Investigations and Civilian Harm’ (2020) and other publications on their website.
• Listen to 'The Civilian Protection Podcast' - PAX
• Applying the DoD Policy on Civilian Harm to Protection of Civilians in Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) , NGO Recommendations for DoD Policy on Civilian Harm - InterAction