Vredesactie and Pax Christi have invited Forensic Architecture and Airwars to talk about their research on bombings in Syria and Iraq. Through their research, information on the nature of the bombings as well as civil casualties become public, where governments remain silent.

By using open source information and contacting locals, Omar Ferwati from Forensic Architecture attempts to reconstruct spaces that have been bombed by Coalition partners or other parties. Ferwati will talk about the tools and techniques Forensic Architecture uses to collect and analyse information on an area, a building and the (civil) casualties involved. Among others, Ferwati is well known for his research on the coalition bombing of the Al-Jinah Mosque in Syria.

Koen Kluessien is working for Airwars and researching airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Moreover, he is an expert on Belgian and Dutch transparency policy. As both countries are performing poorly in terms of transparency on collateral damage, Airwars attempts to fill the void by reporting and exposing civil casualties.

Vredesactie and Pax Christi will join the conversation and talk about their recent report on the lack of democratic control on military operations in Belgium. As the Belgian F16s returned from Jordan after a military mission of more than a year, both organizations are wondering why a broad discussion on the outcome as well as collateral damage is absent.

Afterwards, the speakers will get into a debate and answer questions from the public. 

The event will be in English. Registration is recommended.