The Human Rights Council closed its 62nd session on 8 July. All of its instruments for responding to grave violations, from commissions of inquiry to fact-finding missions and special rapporteurs, were created as a result of evidence first gathered and shared by civil society. It is these first responders to gross human rights violations, including members of the Casualty Recorders Netework, who sound the alert.
Every Casualty Counts is proud to help bring the voice of some of those Network members directly into the Council chamber.
During the 62nd session we recorded a joint statement on the situation in the Kivus (Democratic Republic of Congo) with Network member Volontaires des Pays des Grands Lacs (VPGL). Since 2019, VPGL has documented more than 5,169 deaths from armed conflict in the Kivus, Ituri and Tanganyika, including over 1,000 children, and has identified more than 9,000 children orphaned by the violence. We asked the Council to support the individual identification, documentation and memorialisation of every victim, and to treat these as part of meaningful reparation.
We also submitted a joint statement with Network member Mwatana for Human Rights, laying out the toll of landmines on Yemen‘s civilian population. Between September 2014 and November 2025, Mwatana documented 689 landmine incidents – 489 people killed, including 209 children and 37 women, and 906 injured. We called on all parties to the conflict to end landmine use, share minefield maps, clear contaminated land, support survivors, and ensure accountability.
Each of these statements was built on evidence of verified, individually identified victims. Their aim is to prevent more people from sharing the same fate.
This is what casualty recording is for. The records are built by local organisations long before any international mechanism arrives, and remain long after international attention moves on.
Every Casualty Counts is the only global organisation focused exclusively on casualty recording. Read both statements below.
