The conflicts highlighted on GI-Net's "Areas of Concern [0]" map are selected based on two criteria:
- the extent to which mass atrocities are occurring
- the extent to which civilians are being targeted
Our research relies exclusively on publicly-available information from expert organizations and individuals and/or entities that have been on the ground in the conflict region, and have conducted interviews and primary source analyses. Important sources include reports by Human Rights Watch [1], the International Crisis Group [2], the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center [3], Refugees International [4] and humanitarian aid organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross [5].
With available information from these sources on nearly 90 different crises, we then determined which of them currently appear to include systematic or targeted atrocities against civilians on a scale that stands out relative to the other crises considered. We do not believe it is possible to pick a specific threshold for defining "large-scale," and even if such a threshold was chosen, the data are not available to determine if every given crisis would meet this level or not. The crises that belong to this group of substantially larger-scale atrocities are those we consider to be current areas of concern.
In our assessment of how civilians have been targeted by mass atrocities, we relied on the following indicators:
- levels of mortality, drawing from a number of different sources
- levels of forced displacement, largely relying on Internal Displacement Monitoring Center numbers
- the frequency and intensity of human rights violations committed against civilians, as reported by expert and relief organizations, as well as the media
Unfortunately, there is a dearth of meaningful reporting on a number of conflicts that are of grave concern to GI-Net. Until there is sufficient information to prove ongoing large-scale atrocities against civilians, these crises will not appear on the map.