INVESTIGATIONS INTO CIVILIAN HARM IN ARMED CONFLICT

Investigating the effects of military operations can help the military assess the accuracy of their assumptions, intelligence, and targeting decisions.3 Investigations and civilian harm tracking can uncover patterns of problems to help militaries learn from mistakes and reduce civilian harm in future operations.4 If States regularly and effectively investigate credible allegations of civilian harm. [...] However, it may also obscure accountability efforts because of the capacity to enhance secrecy in such cases and maintain such information exclusively in possession of States.66 Releasing a reasonable amount of information on investigations is crucial for the legitimacy of State operations and for the State to have some control over the narrative.67 If a State does not release information on the e. [...] McCormack, “The Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May 2010: The Turkel Commission Second Report, Israel’s Mechanisms for Examining and Investigating Complaints and Claims of Violations of the Laws of Armed Conflict According to International Law: Australian Law and Practice Relevant to Investigation and Prosecution of LOAC Violations,” 2013, Me. [...] 5 Lubell, Pejic, and Simmons, “Guidelines on Investigating Violations of International Humanitarian Law.” 6 McCormack, “Second Turkel Report;” Lubell, Pejic, and Simmons, “Guidelines on Investigating Violations of International Humanitarian Law: Law, Policy, and Good Practice”; “Geneva Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. [...] Lubell, Pejic, and Simmons, “Guidelines on Investigating Violations of International Humanitarian Law”; United Nations, The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death 2016: The Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (UN, 2018), .