Indicator 16.1.2 Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by sex, age and cause

Indicator 16.1.2: Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by sex, age and cause

Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Definitions:

This indicator is defined as the total count of conflict-related deaths divided by the total population, expressed per 100,000 population.

‘Conflict’ is defined as ‘armed conflict’ in reference to a terminology enshrined in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and applied to situations based on the assessment of the United Nations (UN) and other internationally mandated entities. ‘Conflict-related deaths’ refers to direct and indirect deaths associated to armed conflict. ‘Population’ refers to total resident population in a given situation of armed conflict included in the indicator, in a given year. Population data are derived from annual estimates produced by the UN Population Division.

Concepts:

‘Conflict’

According to IHL, the branch of international law, which specifically focuses on armed conflicts, two types of armed conflicts exist: international armed conflicts (IAC) and non-international armed conflicts (NIAC).

IAC exist whenever there is resort to armed force between two or more States. An IAC does not exist in cases in which use of force is the result of an error (e.g. involuntary incursion into foreign territory, wrongly identifying the target); and when the territorial State has given its consent to an intervention.

NIAC are protracted armed confrontations occurring between governmental armed forces and the forces of one or more armed groups, or between such groups arising on the territory of a State. The armed confrontation must reach a “minimum level of intensity” and the parties involved in the conflict must show a “minimum of organisation”.

‘Conflict-related deaths’

Direct deaths are deaths where there are reasonable grounds to believe that they resulted directly from war operations and that the acts, decisions and/or purposes that caused these deaths were in furtherance of or under the guise of armed conflict.

These deaths may have been caused by (i) the use of weapons or (ii) other means and methods. Deaths caused by the use of weapons, include but are not limited to those inflicted by firearms, missiles, mines, and bladed weapons. It may also include deaths resulting from aerial attacks and bombardments (e.g. of military bases, cities and villages), crossfire, explosive remnants of war, targeted killings or assassinations, force protection incidents. Deaths caused by other means and methods may include deaths from torture or sexual and gender-based violence, intentional killing using starvation, depriving prisoners of access to health care or denying access to essential goods and services (e.g. an ambulance stopped at a check point).

Indirect deaths are deaths resulting from a loss of access to essential goods and services (e.g. economic slowdown, shortages of medicines or reduced farming capacity that result in lack of access to adequate food, water, sanitation, health care and safe conditions of work) that are caused or aggravated by the situation of armed conflict.

By definition, these deaths should be separated from other violent deaths which are, in principle, not connected to the situation of armed conflict (e.g. intentional and non-intentional homicides, self-defence, self-inflicted), but are still relevant to the implementation and measurement of SDG target 16.1. The International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) provides definitional elements and classification of violent deaths both related and not related to armed conflict. The ICCS provides indications on how to distinguish between intentional homicides, killings directly related to war/armed conflict and killings that amount to war crimes.

‘Cause’ refers to the weapons, means and methods that caused the conflict-related deaths. The categories for the disaggregation of the ‘cause of death’ for direct deaths build on the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), ICCS, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) overview of weapons regulated by IHL, UN practice and OHCHR casualty recording.

Number

Per 100,000 population for VC_DTH_TOTR

Percent (%) for VC_DTH_TOTPT

Examples of sources include eyewitnesses; hospital records; community elders, religious and civil leaders; security forces and conflict parties; local authorities; prosecution offices, police and other law enforcement agencies, health authorities; government departments and officials; UN and other international organizations; detailed media reports and other relevant civil society organizations.

National and international data providers that have been assessed by OHCHR for their application of the indicator’s associated methodology, including UN entities working on casualty recording in the framework of their operations (e.g. peacekeeping operations, commissions of inquiry, humanitarian operations and human rights offices), national human rights institutions, national statistical offices and relevant civil society organizations.

In situations of armed conflict, a large share of deaths may not be reported. Often, normal registration systems are heavily affected by the presence of armed conflict. Additionally, actors on both sides of an armed conflict may have incentives for misreporting, deflating or inflating casualties. In most instances, the number of cases reported will depend on access to conflict zones, access to information, motivation and perseverance of both international and national actors, such as UN peace missions and other internationally mandated entities, national institutions (e.g. national statistical offices, national human rights institutions) and relevant civil society organizations.

The indicator is calculated as the total count of conflict-related deaths divided by the total resident population in a given situation of armed conflict for the year, expressed per 100,000 population, occurring within the preceding 12 months.

$Indicator\mathrm{\ }16.1.2\mathrm{\ }=\frac{Number\mathrm{\ }of\mathrm{\ }conflict\mathrm{\ }deaths\mathrm{\ }in\mathrm{\ }situation\mathrm{\ }x\mathrm{\ }}{Total\mathrm{\ }resident\mathrm{\ }population\mathrm{\ }in\mathrm{\ }situation\mathrm{\ }x}\times 100,000$

The total count of conflict-related deaths includes first the total number of documented direct deaths, using all potentially relevant data sources (e.g. UN peace missions, national statistical offices, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations). Documented cases provide verified information on each direct conflict-related death.

Depending on the magnitude of conflict-related deaths, capacity of data providers, and other contextual and practical considerations, the methodology will seek to produce statistical estimates of undocumented deaths directly linked to the armed conflict. Further work will be needed to cover deaths indirectly linked to the armed conflict, e.g. loss of access to essential goods and services. Existing data must be updated regularly and retrospectively reflecting the emergence of new data over time.

2024-09-27

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

16.1.1 Number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population, by sex and age

16.1.3 Proportion of population subjected to physical, psychological or sexual violence in the previous 12 months

16.1.4 Proportion of population that feel safe walking alone around the area they live

16.4.2 Proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments

16.a.1 Existence of independent national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles

10.3.1 and 16.b.1: Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law

5.2.2: Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence

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