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Victims' cash: Nato countries compared

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 01 July 2009

Each Nato country involved in the conflict in Afghanistan has its own compensation scheme. Channel 4 News reviews how each compensates innocent victims of the war.

A shattered shoe following a bomb blast in Kabul (credit: Reuters)

United States
American military units have two available mechanisms for giving ex gratia payments where death, injury, or individual or community property losses result from US troop activities: solatia and condolence payments. Both are given without inference of legal liability for harm. Solatia are drawn from unit funds, whereas condolences are drawn from a commander’s emergency response program.

Condolences could be approved in a couple of days, whereas solatia usually take at least one month to be approved.

The amounts given by the two funds is roughly the same: death $2,000-$2,500; serious injury $400-$1,500; non-serious injury $200-$600; serious property damage $2,200; non-serious property damage $200-$250. These amounts are often used as only rough guides.

United Kingdom
Between April 2006 and October 2008, Britain made 858 ex gratia payments to Afghan civilians who suffered the loss of a family member, injury or property. The total amount of payments for injuries or property loss was £90,000.

Much more has been given for property loss or acquisition: £120,000 for 35 cases involving property in 2006; £271,000 for 332 property claims in 2007; and £199,000 for 440 property claims up to April 2008.

British government personnel formerly stationed with the British military in Helmand province said there are civilian MoD officers on-the-ground with discretion to give ex gratia payments, primarily for property damage or acquisition but also for isolated cases of death or injury.

Canada
The Canadian military maintains ex gratia payments for Afghan civilians injured by Canadian troops. In March 2008, The Toronto Star reported at least eight instances in which the Canadian government compensated Afghan families or individuals for unintended deaths or injuries.

The paper reported that payments ranged from $1,971 to $31,584. Canadian troops paid approximately $243,000 from 2005 to 2008.

The Netherlands
Dutch troops stationed at the Dutch provincial reconstruction team in Uruzgan province have a “pocket money” fund, which they may draw upon to provide ex gratia payments to Afghans who suffer the death of a family member, injury or property loss as a result of troop activities. The payments are not considered an acceptance of blame, nor are they required under the Dutch agreement with the Afghan government.

Instead they are treated as an expression of moral obligation to families unintentionally harmed, as well as a politically prudent step to avoid alienating the population from Dutch troops.

Unlike some ex gratia mechanisms, it must be established without a doubt that Dutch troops caused the damage, signed off by the legal advisor to Task Force Uruzgan (the Dutch mission) and at least the commander of the mission team (in some cases a more senior official depending on the amount in question).

Australia
Australia has a fund for providing “honour” payments to civilians. The standard for distributing such funds is high: two separate ministries must sign off on any payment.

With such cumbersome verification procedures, where a given operation involves Dutch troops who are co-stationed at the same provincial reconstruction team as Australian troops, Dutch compensation is relied on because it can reach the families more quickly.

In September 2008, Australian troops in Uruzgan province unintentionally killed a local community leader who was helping them oppose insurgent forces. Following a joint ISAF-Afghan investigation they provided compensation to the family.

Italy
Neither the Italian military nor the Italian government have a formal fund for helping civilians harmed by Italian troop activities. Although most Italian troops are stationed in a province where there is ongoing conflict (Herat), Italian troops are less frequently involved in combat operations unless as part of general ISAF Regional Command West activities.

There have been at least two cases where the Italian government assisted families of those injured in accidents involving Italian convoys. On 2 June, 2006, a child was killed when he ran in front of Italian convoy.

The Italian government helped the family cover funeral expenses and gave them several thousand dollars as a condolence for the loss of their child.

In another case in early 2008, a child was hit by a convoy and received immediate medical assistance but no additional compensation as he survived his wounds. In both cases, Italian troops stopped on the scene and identified the families by talking to locals in the community.

Germany
German soldiers have no designated funds to help civilians injured in conflict.

However, when German soldiers shot three civilians at a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province in August 2008, they provided $20,000 in cash and a car worth $5,000 to the family, a sum they arrived at in consultation with the family and community leaders.

Although they did not formally accept liability, they did accept responsibility and apologize to the family. “We didn’t make any attempt to excuse our behaviour or this man did something wrong [in approaching the checkpoint]. We just kept expressing apologies,” the civilian commander Peter Ptassek, the lead person dealing with the situation, said.

Prior to this incident, officers at the German base in Kunduz said that the German military did not engage in direct combat activities but where a suicide bombing or a road accident results in civilians injuries or losses, the troops themselves have pooled some of their own money, or donations from family and friends back in Germany, to give something to those injured or to the families of those killed (often in the range of a couple to a few hundred euros).

Sweden
The Swedish team in northern Afghanistan has not had to deal with issues of civilian casualties due to its location; however two road accidents inform how they might handle such a case.

In two incidents where a civilian was accidentally killed or injured due to a road accident with Swedish troops, Swedish troops consulted with the community to determine an appropriate sum in conformity with local traditions. In both cases, the amount constituted a few hundred dollars and was delivered to the families by the commander of the base with his apologies for their loss.

This information is drawn from research by the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict: http://www.civicworldwide.org/index.php

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