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	Systematically Recording the Casualties of Armed Violence Can Help Save Lives by Oxford Research Group, Action on Armed Violence   Apr 2014   Recording and analysing data on the casualties of conflict and armed violence can improve the protection of civilians and save lives. This is the conclusion of two reports released today by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) and the Oxford Research Group (ORG).   The reports, Counting The Cost: casualty recording practices and realities around the world (AOAV) and The UN and Casualty Recording: good practice and the need for action (ORG) reveal that the rigorous, transparent and routine recording of deaths and injuries of armed violence, by both states and the United Nations, can improve humanitarian responses, allow for redress for victims, and reduce civilian casualties in conflicts. They do so by providing critical data that can result in action from conflict parties and others to protect civilians.   The research also shows that despite the evidenced benefits of such, neither the UN, nor most states, systematically record the casualties of armed violence.   “When the UN does conduct rigorous and routine casualty recording – as they have done in Afghanistan – it’s clear the resultant data can be used to help save lives,” said ORG report author, Elizabeth Minor. “Despite this in the Central African Republic, for example, there is currently no credible casualty toll and the UN is not attempting comprehensive and systematic documentation. There is an urgent need for the UN to move effectively to improve how it deals with information about violations and casualties in order to better protect civilians in conflict.”   Where states systematically record deaths and injuries of armed violence, the research demonstrates they are better able to support victims’ rights with, for instance, compensation and redress. They are also able to reduce incidences of armed violence, particularly gun violence. In the Colombia city of Cali, for example, homicide rates dropped by 14 per cent partly as a consequence of the government using data on casualties from gun violence to help create evidence-based legislation.   Transparency in the recording and sharing of casualty data was also found by both reports to be rare, despite proven benefits. “There is a major need for countries and UN agencies to increase transparency on casualty figures and the methods they use to gather them,” said AOAV report author Serena Olgiati.   “Transparency makes it clear that this data is not a political weapon used to accuse opponents, but rather a practical tool that allows states to recognise the rights of the victims of violence.”   A lack of political will is often cited as the main deterrent to collecting comprehensive information on the casualties of violence. Other challenges include limited resources and lack of access. States and the UN should take steps to overcome these limitations, and should work towards introducing and applying casualty-recording standards, developing casualty data management systems, and increasing their monitoring of both deaths and injuries from armed violence.   http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/ http://www.everycasualty.org/campaign/resources http://remotecontrolproject.org/ Visit the related web page
	Amnesty International death penalty report reveals global rise in executions by World Today & agencies   27 Mar 2014   Amnesty International says more people are being executed for their crimes, with at least 778 people put to death around the globe last year.   The Amnesty report says the executions happened in 22 countries, with 100 more people put to death compared to the previous year.   The real figure may be even higher because Amnesty"s total does not include the thousands of executions that it says occur secretly in China.   Amnesty estimates that China executes more people than the combined total of all of the countries surveyed.   Amnesty"s director of global issues, Audrey Gaughran, says around the world, people faced the death penalty for a range of non-lethal crimes including robbery, drug-related and economic offences, as well as adultery and blasphemy.   Ms Gaughran says countries carrying out the death penalty are going against the long-term trend.   "While bad news in 2013 is worrying, the negative developments that we have recorded are generally confined to a small isolated group of states," she told The World Today.   "Excluding China, almost 80 per cent of all of the executions in 2013 were carried out in just three countries - Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia."   The survey shows in Iraq the number of death rose 30 per cent from 2012 to the highest level since 2003, and in Iran the number of deaths rose 18 per cent.   Amnesty"s expert on the Middle East and Africa, Jan Wetzel, says there are no signs these countries intend to stop executing people. "No, on the contrary, this may actually get worse," he said.   "In Iraq the government essentially says we need the death penalty to fight terrorism and to fight the increased violence and armed insurgency.   "This defeats the whole premise because they say the death penalty is a deterrent and the level of violence should actually go down, well, it doesn"t."   Nigeria represents a setback for human rights groups. After president Goodluck Jonathan approved a resumption of executions, four men were hanged there in 2013, the first executions in the country for seven years.   Mr Wetzel hopes it is not the start of anything worse.   "The four executions in Nigeria in June 2013 were in one state - Edo state," he said.   "Other state governors had expressed a willingness to resume executions as well and we worked very hard to try to prevent that."   So far, no other state in Nigeria has resumed executions.   Ms Gaughran says there is more internal debate in countries with the death penalty and she hopes it gains momentum within grassroots movements.   "We see more and more activism against the death penalty," she said.   "We see more and more people connecting with each other and I think that"s one of the positive trends that I would highlight."   Mr Wetzel says the mass executions ordered in Egypt this week with 529 death sentences in one single case on a single day is just grotesque and completely out of the ordinary even for Egypt."   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Growingglobaltrendcallingforanendtocapitalpunishment.aspx
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