Non-combatant casualty value (NCV), also known as the non-combatant and civilian casualty cut-off value (NCV or NCCV), is a military rule of engagement which provides an estimate of the worth placed on the lives of non-combatants, i.e. civilians or non-military individuals within a conflict zone. It has become an element of strategic planning and policy-making during a number of armed conflicts, providing a quantification of the proportionality principle as interpreted by the military command, and thus influencing decisions regarding the use of force and "acceptable" collateral damage. [1] [2] It has been described as a "central value in contemporary Western war" [3] and "perhaps our starkest rule of engagement". [4]
The value is used as a threshold for delegated authority at the operational level; the threshold can be exceeded if the military commander is able to request and achieve sign-off from higher echelons within the military or political framework.
International law's historical prohibition against intentionally targeting civilians has been said to be poorly suited to modern warfare, due to its notion of "intent". NCV calculations are possible in modern warfare due to the availability of wider information sets and advanced weaponry with more accurate targeting, reducing collateral damage. The targeting process has been systematized and proceduralized, allowing for the rationalization of the killing of noncombatants. [5]
Acceptability of NCV levels vary depending on the type of target and military objective, or for a specific area of operations, mission, or weapon system. The two most significant factors are: (1) the perceived value of the local civilians, and (2) the perceived value of the target. [6]
The value attributed to civilian lives depends on racial and geographic factors. Western forces operating in Western states, for example against a domestic terrorist attack, will use an NCV close to zero, in order to minimize casualties amongst their own citizens. Equivalent operations by Western forces in non-Western countries will use significantly higher NCVs. [6]
Lower NCVs are considered acceptable for "high-value targets", i.e. strategically important targets such as enemy command centers or weapons facilities. Higher NCVs is usually considered unacceptable for civilian infrastructure, humanitarian sites, and densely populated areas where the risk of civilian casualties is greater. [6]
Reported examples include: [6]
NCV has faced criticism for its subjective nature, potential for manipulation, discrepancies in its application across different conflicts, and possible contravention of international humanitarian law. Critics argue that assigning a numerical value to human life undermines the inherent dignity and rights of non-combatants, reducing them to mere statistics in military calculations. Moreover, the lack of standardized methodologies for determining NCV and the influence of political considerations raise concerns about its reliability and ethical implications.
According to Mathias Delori, in military assessments of moral actions the "actual number of deaths and injuries hardly counts... the ‘way’ in which violence is perpetrated matters more than the actual level of violence... it is the very act of calculation - the very fact that calculation took place - that justifies action... [and] although all lives matter in principle, some lives count more than others in practice". [8]
A civilian casualty occurs when a civilian is killed or injured by non-civilians, mostly law enforcement officers, military personnel, rebel group forces, or terrorists. Under the law of war, it refers to civilians who perish or suffer wounds as a result of wartime acts. The term is generally applied to situations in which violence is committed in pursuit of political goals. During periods of armed conflict, there are structures, actors, and processes at a number of levels that affect the likelihood of violence against civilians.
Collateral damage is any incidental and undesired death, injury or other damage inflicted, especially on civilians, as the result of an activity. Originally coined to describe military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts to refer to any unwanted fallout from an action.
A civilian is a person not a member of an armed force nor a person engaged in hostilities.
Combatant is the legal status of a person entitled to directly participate in hostilities during an armed conflict, and may be intentionally targeted by an adverse party for their participation in the armed conflict. Combatants are not afforded immunity from being directly targeted in situations of armed conflict and can be attacked regardless of the specific circumstances simply due to their status, so as to deprive their side of their support.
Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities; persons, such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligerent armed forces but are protected because of their specific duties ; combatants who are placed hors de combat; and neutral persons, such as peacekeepers, who are not involved in fighting for one of the belligerents involved in a war. This particular status was first recognized under the Geneva Conventions with the First Geneva Convention of 1864.
Estimates of the casualties from the Iraq War have come in several forms, and those estimates of different types of Iraq War casualties vary greatly.
International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war. It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by protecting persons who are not participating in hostilities and by restricting and regulating the means and methods of warfare available to combatants.
The code of purity of arms is one of the values stated in the Israel Defense Forces' official doctrine of ethics, The Spirit of the IDF. It states that:
The soldier shall make use of his weaponry and power only for the fulfillment of the mission and solely to the extent required; he will maintain his humanity even in combat. The soldier shall not employ his weaponry and power in order to harm non-combatants or prisoners of war, and shall do all he can to avoid harming their lives, body, honor and property.
A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion.
During the War in Afghanistan, according to the Costs of War Project the war killed 176,000 people in Afghanistan: 46,319 civilians, 69,095 military and police and at least 52,893 opposition fighters. However, the death toll is possibly higher due to unaccounted deaths by "disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences of the war." According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, the conflict killed 212,191 people. The Cost of War project estimated in 2015 that the number who have died through indirect causes related to the war may be as high as 360,000 additional people based on a ratio of indirect to direct deaths in contemporary conflicts.
During the 2006 Lebanon War, Operation Sharp and Smooth, also known as the Baalbek operation, was an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raid on a hospital in the city of Baalbek, which was being used as a Hezbollah headquarters, and a neighbourhood of the city. The precise objectives of the raid remain classified, but it is known that a number of Lebanese, including Hezbollah and armed Lebanese Communist Party members, were killed, and five Lebanese civilians were arrested and detained in Israel as suspected Hezbollah members, but released after three weeks. The casualty figures for the raid vary. According to inquiries by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Lebanese authorities 16 Lebanese residents, most of them civilians, were killed. According to IDF ten Hezbollah militants were killed in the attack.
Targeted killing, or assassination is a tactic that the government of Israel has used during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, and other conflicts.
Air warfare must comply with laws and customs of war, including international humanitarian law by protecting the victims of the conflict and refraining from attacks on protected persons.
Roof knocking or "knock on the roof" is a term used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to describe its practice of dropping non-explosive or low-yield devices on the roofs of targeted civilian homes in the Palestinian territories as a prior warning of imminent bombing attacks to give the inhabitants time to flee the attack. The practice was employed by the IDF during the 2008–2009 Gaza War, Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and Operation Protective Edge in 2014 to target the homes of police officers or Hamas political or military leaders.
Gaza War fatalities estimates made by human rights NGOs and by the involved combatants:
In armed conflicts, the civilian casualty ratio is the ratio of civilian casualties to combatant casualties, or total casualties. The measurement can apply either to casualties inflicted by or to a particular belligerent, casualties inflicted in one aspect or arena of a conflict or to casualties in the conflict as a whole. Casualties usually refer to both dead and injured. In some calculations, deaths resulting from famine and epidemics are included.
Since the September 11 attacks, the United States has carried out drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Human shields are legally protected persons—either protected civilians or prisoners of war—who are either coerced or volunteer to deter attacks by occupying the space between a belligerent and a legitimate military target. The use of human shields is forbidden by Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions. It is also a specific intent war crime as codified in the Rome Statute, which was adopted in 1998. The language of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court prohibits "utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas, or military forces immune from military operations."
In international humanitarian law and international criminal law, an indiscriminate attack is a military attack that fails to distinguish between legitimate military targets and protected persons. Indiscriminate attacks strike both legitimate military and protected objects alike, thus violating the principle of distinction between combatants and protected civilians. They differ from direct attacks against protected civilians and encompass cases in which the perpetrators are indifferent as to the nature of the target, cases in which the perpetrators use tactics or weapons that are inherently indiscriminate, and cases in which the attack is disproportionate, because it is likely to cause excessive protected civilian casualties and damages to protected objects.
During the Israel–Hamas war, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) used artificial intelligence tools that could rapidly and automatically perform much of the process of determining what to bomb. Israel greatly expanded the bombing of the Gaza Strip, which in previous wars had been limited by the Israeli Air Force running out of targets.