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More transparency on civilian casualties

The Ministry of Defence considers it important to take responsibility for the consequences of its military deployments. Therefore, it communicates as transparently as possible about these consequences.

Step-by-step approach for Article 100 deployment

In 2022, the Ministry of Defence published a Step-by-step approach towards more transparency with regard to civilian casualties during deployments. This Step-by-step approach focuses on so-called Article 100 deployments: missions to uphold and strengthen the international rule of law.

Before the start of such missions, the Cabinet sends a so-called Article 100 letter to the House of Representatives, except in the event of an emergency situation. The letter provides a description of the Ministry of Defence's expectations for civilian casualties and its actions to mitigate them. Such letters also state how the Ministry shares information about weapon deployment during missions.

The Step-by-step approach is comprised of the following elements:

  1. The risk of civilian casualties is described in Article 100 letters.
  2. The Ministry of Defence states in advance how transparent it can be about Dutch weapon deployment. The Ministry thereby takes the risks to the safety of personnel, to the operation, and to national security and that of its partners into consideration.
  3. During the mission, the Ministry assesses whether it is being sufficiently transparent about Dutch weapon deployment.
  4. The subject of civilian casualties plays an important role in the evaluation of missions.

The protection of civilians during armed conflict is included in the foreign policy of the Netherlands

Independent evaluation

In general, the Dutch Cabinet authorizes an independent party to conduct the final evaluation of missions. When doing so, it calls for particular attention to be paid to the subject of civilian casualties. The outcomes of these evaluations help the Ministry of Defence to better protect civilians in future missions.

Air campaign data set

To be as transparent as possible about its weapon deployment, the Ministry of Defence has published a large data set of operational information about the Dutch contribution to the air campaign of the Global Coalition Against Daesh.