Editing Civilian casualty (section)

== Ethics ==
Many modern nations' views on the [[ethics]] of civilian casualties align with the [[Just War|Just War theory]], which advocates a system of [[proportionality (law)|proportionality]]. An [[Casus belli|act of war]] is deemed proportional in Just War theory if the overall destruction expected from the use of force is outweighed by the projected good to be achieved.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/justwar.htm |title=USCCB - Excerpts from the Harvest of Justice is Sown in Peace |access-date=7 July 2006 |archive-date=12 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060712075249/http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/justwar.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> This view is a war-adapted version of [[utilitarianism]], the moral system which advocates that the morally correct action is the one that does the most good.

However, [[moral philosophers]] often contest this approach to war. Such theorists advocate [[Moral absolutism|absolutism]], which holds there are various ethical rules that are, as the name implies, absolute. One such rule is that protected [[non-combatants]] cannot be attacked because they are, by definition, not partaking in combat; to attack non-combatants anyway, regardless of the expected outcome, is to deny them [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]]. Thus, by the absolutist view, only enemy [[combatants]] can be attacked. The philosopher [[Thomas Nagel]] advocates this absolutist rule in his essay<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring06/papers/nagle_war.html|title=Nagel - War and Massacre|work=ucdavis.edu}}</ref> "War and Massacre".

Finally, the approach of [[pacifism]] is the belief that war of any kind is morally unjust. Pacifists sometimes extend [[humanitarian]] concern not just to enemy civilians but also to enemy combatants, especially [[conscripts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themanifesto.info/manifesto.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220190620/http://www.themanifesto.info/manifesto.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 February 2006|title=Manifesto against Conscription and the Military System|work=themanifesto.info}}</ref>

===Refugees===
The [[laws of war]] have changed over the course of history, and international protocols like the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]] explicitly provide legal protections to protected civilians in territories belonging to or [[military occupation|occupied]] by a [[belligerent]] party during and after an international armed conflict. The 1951 [[Refugee Convention]] and the 1967 [[Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees]] has also given protection to people who have a well founded fear of persecution.

Some researchers{{weasel words inline|date=September 2015|reason=UNDUE? ratio needed or attribution if the numbers are very small}} have included [[refugees]] and [[internally displaced persons]] in their definition of "civilian casualty".<ref>Ahlstrom, C. and K.-A. Nordquist (1991). "Casualties of conflict: report for the world campaign for the protection of victims of war." Uppsala, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University.</ref><ref name="Garbett2015">{{cite book|author=Claire Garbett|title=The Concept of the Civilian: Legal Recognition, Adjudication and the Trials of International Criminal Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cr8cBgAAQBAJ|date=9 January 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-00624-1}}</ref>