“Making amends” is the practice of recognizing and/or providing assistance to civilians who have been harmed in war due to the presence, activities, and operations of armed actors. Various forms of amends are used to express contrition and recognize the agency and dignity of civilian victims. Amends can take a wide variety of forms, ideally based on the preferences, needs, and cultures of civilian victims and survivors. For example, amends can include public or private acknowledgments of harm, formal apologies and explanations, and/or monetary or material assistance provided to an individual, family, or community.
Monetary amends often take the form of condolence or compensation payments, livelihood assistance, or community assistance. Monetary amends can have symbolic or cultural meaning, and, if of a sufficient amount, can support physical and psychological healing and help people rebuild their lives with dignity, especially in the wake of losing their family’s breadwinner or their own livelihood. None of these practices can replace the lives of lost loved ones, and financial remuneration must never be understood as attempting to put a monetary value on life. A proper approach to amends starts by prioritizing the prevention of civilian harm in the first place, and then taking accountability for harm when prevention efforts have failed.
CIVIC’s work on amends began with our founder, Marla Ruzicka, who advocated for the United States Government to acknowledge civilian harm caused by US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and provide condolence payments to civilian survivors. Today, CIVIC works around the world to encourage governments to respond to civilian harm with dignity and respect through making amends.
Related resources:
- AMENDS AND REPARATIONS FOR CIVILIAN HARM IN ARMED CONFLICT
- Making Amends: A Guide to US Law and Policy on Post-Harm Amends
- We Hope, But We Are Hopeless
- Unacknowledged Harm: Hurdles to Receiving Victims’ Assistance in Afghanistan
- The US Militaryand Post-Harm Amends Policy and Programs: Key Considerations and NGORecommendations
- The Civilian Protection Podcast: “In Search of Answers”
