Caucus targets civilian harm prevention, response efforts

U.S. Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) recently formed a congressional caucus that seeks to prevent, reduce and offer a response to civilian harm resulting from U.S. and partners’ operations.

The action stems from the Department of Defense’s release of its Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP).

The Protection of Civilians in Conflict Caucus, co-chaired by Jacobs, Crow, Khanna, Kim, and Malinowski, seeks to remedy the present trend of civilian harm treated as an acceptable or unavoidable consequence of conflict, as well as the increasing number of internally displaced people, refugees and wounded or killed civilians.

“It’s almost impossible to think of the seven children who were killed in a drone strike in Kabul last year and not feel the urgency to act,” Khanna said. “We have an obligation to protect the lives of children and other civilians in U.S. military operations. I applaud the DoD’s Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan that was released today and am glad to have pushed for these reforms with my colleagues. Reps. Crow, Jacobs, Kim, and I will continue to work to ensure that the reforms are meaningfully implemented by Congress to prevent civilian casualties around the world with the creation of the Protection of Civilians in Conflict Caucus.”

Jacobs said civilian harm never has been and never will be an acceptable cost of war.

“Military operations that displace, kill, and otherwise harm civilians leave a moral stain on our conscience and give our adversaries a powerful recruiting tool,” she said. “The CHMR-AP lays the groundwork for ambitious reform at the Department of Defense, and I thank Secretary Austin for his leadership.”