How Remote Warfare Blows Back: A Case Study of Hawija
Project
The IRW teams up with Pax and introduces a new Community Engagement Learning project to study the reverberating effects of the Dutch airstike on Hawija, Iraq.
Here you will find a variety of relevant publications, op-eds, events, and podcasts published by ourselves and others.
Remote warfare is only remote for some. While politicians portray it as riskless, algorithmic targeting and ‘precision’ airstrikes often lead to widescale civilian casualties. These casualties are often denied, kept secret or undercounted to maintain the myth of a clean war. In response, a growing community of scholars and NGOs have utilised remote-sensing techniques to monitor civilian harm. The resulting contestation of the exact numbers of civilian casualties has provoked intense debate. This raises pressing questions about the impact of the violence executed and democratic control.
How Remote is Remote Warfare?
Events
Watch Intimacies of Remote Warfare project founder Prof. Jolle Demmers tackling the big questions surrounding remote warfare and call for more transparency in her recent talk for Stadium Generale.
Remote Warfare & Civilian Harm: MoD Roadmap Towards more Transparency
Project
IRW works with the Dutch MoD to review the way in which it deals with, reports on and accounts for civilian harm as a consequence of Dutch military efforts.
IRW researcher receives Utrecht University’s MA Thesis Award for Remote Warfare Research
News
Marrit Woudwijk wins MA thesis prize for her research into how Syrian refugees perceive Dutch F16 bombings.
Pax Position Paper on Civilian Harm, Tracking, Analysis and Response
Report
PAX position paper calling for a broader understanding of civilian harm.
Dutch defence minister announces new transparency policies on civilian harm
News
Airwars reports on the Netherlands' new civilian harm reporting procedures.
The Remote Warfare Paradox
Article
Advance preview from the forthcoming book "Remote Warfare: Interdisciplinary Perspectives" on how the democratic desire for zero-risk war lowers the threshold for military engagement.
Conflicting Truth
Media
Airwars commemorates civilians killed in conflict for UN Protection of Civilians week.
Ignorance in war is not an excuse
Op-ed
The Dutch Ministry of Defence claim that they cannot know how many civilian casualties occur in their remote wars to evade accountability and public outcry. This is what Lauren Gould en Nora Stel write in their Dutch op-ed for the NRC.
If you want to know the impact of Dutch bombs on Syria, ask the refugees here
Op-ed
Lennart Hofman and Marrit Woudwijk explore the ‘lesser truth’ of the remote warfare waged by the Netherlands in Syria, as interpreted by Syrian refugees in the Netherlands.