The fog of war. That’s how Emily Tripp refers to the myths and misinformation that develop in conflict zones. Airwars documents the names of killed and wounded civilians, so they don’t end up getting swept under the carpet too. “Our data is an important piece of the puzzle.”

Photo above: Palestinians returning after a visit to a food distribution point. Photography: AFP

Precision weapons

“War often seems far away, but nearly all European countries have played a part in armed conflicts in one way or another during recent years”, explains Emily Tripp, executive director of investigative platform Airwars. 

“Governments claim they use ‘modern precision weapons on specific targets’. Our founder became obsessed by the gap between those claims and the harsh reality he witnessed as a war reporter. In government communications on the use of precision weapons, he never saw any mention of the large numbers of civilian casualties.”

Shocking counter

Airwars started as a journalism project to document civilian casualties. The counter on their website is constantly rising. At the time of this interview, it stands at more than 78,250 deaths. “We look for the cause behind each statistic”, Emily explains. “Local researchers all over the world create a file on each casualty. Who was this person and what caused him or her to die?”

Airwars now also uses that information to compel governments to provide greater transparency and to ensure that they protect civilians better. “Even in their choice of language, governments create distance. Instead of talking about people, they refer to ‘collateral damage’ and in America they even use the term ‘bugsplat’. After an attack resulting in many casualties, there’s no evaluation of how calculations were made or the errors of judgment involved; they simply fire again. This really needs to change.”

Breakthrough in the Netherlands

An important breakthrough was achieved in the Netherlands. “The background was a Dutch air strike on the Iraqi town of Hawija that killed eighty civilians.” Efforts made by Airwars, working together with other organizations, led to real changes.

“For example, last year the politician who was Minister of Defense at the time of the attack apologized to the inhabitants of Hawija; for the first time, more than ten years after the strike took place in 2015. And now the Dutch government even has a form on its website that people can use to report damage. Certainly not ideal, but it’s a start.”

Food distribution points in Gaza

Airwars is carrying out a detailed investigation in Gaza too. “Like when aid agencies had to pull out and Israel arranged for armed private military contractors to open food distribution points. That’s inconceivable”, emphasizes Emily, who spent years providing humanitarian aid in conflict zones.

“What transpired was exactly what experienced aid agencies had warned of: total chaos, resulting in dozens of deaths. Including women and children. Using public sources, satellite images and eye-witness accounts, we made a model of the area and charted the deaths. We showed that deliberate, serious errors were made that could have been avoided.”

Completing the puzzle

Another crucial investigation was the one into the bombings of small boats off the Venezuelan coast. The United States concluded, without any evidence, that they were transporting drugs. “We are now sharing our data with American human rights organizations that are trying to sue the U.S. government.”

Airwars has been receiving support from Adessium for the last year. “Not just financially – they also act as a discussion partner”, Emily explains. “For example, Adessium is encouraging us to look for extra partnerships. Our documentation forms an important piece of the puzzle, but fortunately we don’t have to complete the whole puzzle by ourselves.”

“We can work with media partners, human rights organizations and investigative organizations to put together the whole story, so that even more people can investigate these injustices. From freelance journalists to academics. Our data is available to everyone.”