Key Facts

• The UK Ministry of Defence has no system to examine if military actions have killed or injured civilians.
• The MoD does not keep a central register of civilian harm incidents or allegations.
• The MoD paid over £31.8 million in more than 6,500 cases related to civilian deaths, injuries, and torture in Iraq and Afghanistan, but these processes are no longer in use.
• The Foreign Office is closing its international humanitarian law unit, which investigated other countries’ conduct in conflict.
• The MoD admits it does not have a clear, unified policy for reducing civilian casualties; responsibilities are spread across different departments.
• The military believes its current practices make civilian harm "extremely unlikely," but the lack of a formal system could lead to reactive responses, harming the UK’s reputation.
• The UK has acknowledged killing one civilian by mistake during airstrikes against ISIS but other research suggests civilian deaths may be higher.
• Other countries developed better civilian harm policies only after major incidents involving many civilian deaths, which the UK says it has avoided.