Recorders often use terms or categories developed by others as a reference for developing their inclusion criteria. Some casualty recorders record deaths which could be violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). These recorders develop categories to record different violations. Some only record violations of IHL and human rights laws, including for example 'extrajudicial killings'.
Legal Sources:
- The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols
- The ICRC’s (International Committee of the Red Cross) study of Customary International Humanitarian Law
- The ICRC’s Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law
- UN Security Council Resolutions that call for the consequences of violence to be monitored, for example Resolution 1612 on Children in Armed Conflict
- Treaty and customary law (Rules 81, 82, and 83 of the ICRC’s Customary IHL study) on landmines
- The legal framework around extrajudicial killings. Guidance on this is found on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights
- The constitution in the country of conflict, which some recorders used for their status definitions
DEFINITION AND CATEGORISATION IN CASUALTY RECORDING, pp. 31-32