IRAQ 2021: Grave Violations Chronicling the rising tide of child deaths in Iraq

Civilians continue to be killed by armed conflict (and its exploding remnants) in Iraq, but at overall lower levels. Reduced, but only to levels unthinkable if applied to the Western nations that destroyed the country. All the more so since child deaths are in fact rising again, and so we focus here on children killed in 2021 and the dismal politics that fails to protect them

Death in Baghdad

Bombings in Baghdad reduced, but never went away: 229 civilians were killed in explosions in the 3 years leading up to the Jan 21, 2021 attack

Violent Deaths of Iraqi Civilians, 2003–2008: Analysis by Perpetrator, Weapon, Time, and Location

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks and colleagues provide a detailed analysis of Iraqi civilian violent deaths during 2003-2008 of the Iraq war and show that of 92,614 deaths, unknown perpetrators caused 74% of deaths, Coalition forces 12%, and Anti-Coalition forces 11%

Iraq in 2019: Calls for a ‘True Homeland’ met with deadly violence

As in earlier years, IBC provides an annual overview of events in Iraq from the key perspective of their deadliness to civilians, this year notably involving violently suppressed, largely youthful mass protests. It is only this perspective that captures and confirms the awful reality that the country has been in a state of war for close to 17 years – and that its youth have known nothing else their entire lives

Victim demographics and DWI outcomes from perpetrators using particular methods: analysis of 60,481 Iraqi civilian deaths from short-duration violence, March 20, 2003 through March 19, 2008.

a<p>Of the total 60,481 deaths from short-duration violence, this Table shows 56,780 deaths attributed to these single perpetrator groups alone. Because of space constraints, we do not show the distribution of the 1,471 adult civilians of unreported sex attributed to “unknown,” “Anti-Coalition.” and “Coalition,” or the 2,230 deaths attributed to “other” or “crossfire” (which include <i>n</i> = 44 adult civilians of unreported sex from “other” or “crossfire” for the total of <i>n</i> = 1,515 adult civilians of unreported sex). Deaths were attributed to Unknown perpetrators if an unidentified perpetrator attacked a civilian target and to Anti-Coalition perpetrators if the target was Coalition or Coalition-associated.</p>b<p>Short-duration events lasting 2 d or less that caused at least one reported civilian death.</p>c<p>Unless noted, data are for events involving the single method used alone (e.g., small arms gunfire only, not combined gunfire and mortar fire).</p>d<p>Number (%) of men among the total of 17,939 men civilian victims from all perpetrators and all methods.</p>e<p>Number (%) of women among the total of 1,981 women civilian victims from all perpetrators and all methods.</p>f<p>Number (%) of children among the total of 2,146 child victims from all perpetrators and all methods. Within [ ] are shown numbers of boys, girls, and children of unreported sex.</p>g<p>Number (%) of unreported age among the total of 36,900 civilian victims of unreported age from all perpetrators and all methods.</p>h<p>“Woman and Child DWI”  =  (<i>n</i> women + children killed/<i>n</i> women + children + men civilians killed) × (100). Possible DWI range is 0 to 100 <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000415#pmed.1000415-Hicks2" target="_blank">[15]</a>. Higher Woman and Child DWI outcomes indicate higher proportions of women and children among demographically identified civilian victims.</p>i<p>Included in Totals are deaths from “other,” “unknown,” or “combined” methods if attributable to the single perpetrator, not shown in the single-method rows above.</p><p>CUS, children of unreported sex.</p

Iraqi civilian deaths from perpetrators using particular methods: analysis of 60,481 deaths from 14,196 events of short-duration armed violence, March 20, 2003 through March 19, 2008.

a<p>Deaths attributed to a single perpetrator group alone. Of the total 60,481 deaths, 2,230 deaths were attributed to “other” or “crossfire” and are not shown. Deaths were attributed to Unknown perpetrators if an unidentified perpetrator attacked a civilian target and to Anti-Coalition perpetrators if the target was Coalition or Coalition-associated.</p>b<p>Short-duration events lasting 2 d or less that caused at least one reported civilian death.</p>c<p>Unless noted, data are for events involving the single method used alone (e.g., small arms gunfire only, not events of combined gunfire and mortar fire).</p>d<p>The extrajudicial killing of any captured individual by any method. Includes combatants extrajudicially executed postcapture, as after capture they become noncombatants protected under international humanitarian law <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000415#pmed.1000415-Hicks2" target="_blank">[15]</a>,<a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000415#pmed.1000415-International1" target="_blank">[16]</a>. For executions only, “events” refer to events of discovering bodies, as events of killing by execution are usually hidden, and “mean” refers to number of bodies discovered.</p>e<p>Open small arms gunfire, not including executions of captured individuals by gunfire.</p>f<p>Included in Totals are deaths from events involving “other,” “unknown,” or “combined” methods if attributable to the single perpetrator, not shown in the single-method rows above.</p><p>SE, standard error.</p