On Saturday 2 July John Sloboda, Co-Director of ORG's Recording Casualties programme, will speak at the Hexham Debates on War, Peace and Democracy. The subject of his talk will be 'Civilian Casualties and the Unacceptable Face of Modern Warfare'. 

The majority of casualties in today's wars are civilian. The trend in the civilian/military death ratio has been consistently upwards. However, the main priority of the USA and its allies has become the protection of the lives of its own military forces.

Governments and military should strive to protect civilians from harm, and compensate them if this protection fails. Better evidence gathering is needed to get a full picture of war's effects on civilians. John Sloboda's lecture outlines the efforts being made to address some of these critical needs.

The Hexham Debates are a high profile public event series, organised by the Hexham Quakers. It seeks to carry on the tradition of active, radical debate essential for ensuring freedom and justice for all. The event series aims to demonstrate ways in which a government’s legitimate power must depend on the consent of its citizens, and reveal how far we have moved away from that ideal.

For more information on the current series see here. 

Event details:

The St Mary’s Centre, St Mary’s R C Church, Hencotes, Hexham

Saturday 2 July 11.00 - 12.30

Admission Free – Retiring Collection