KEEPING CIVILIAN DEATHS IN THE EYE OF THE WORLD

New scrolling web-counters from the Iraq Body Count Project go on-line as the Iraqi conflict moves into its post-war phase.

The unique web-counters, already installed on hundreds of participating web sites worldwide, will continue to headline details of civilians killed in Iraq as they emerge. Automatically-updated, these new web counters will draw on an on-line data base of all reported civilian deaths that has been carefully compiled by a team of researchers working in two continents.

The data base, and supporting commentary, can be found at www.iraqbodycount.org

Co-founder of the site, John Sloboda, said at a Press Conference in the Houses of Parliament, London, Thursday:

"As the world's attention passes on from the war it is even more vital that details of civilian deaths are collected and reported. There are ominous rumours of massive civilian casualties in Baghdad and Basra, with hospitals totally unable to cope, and people dying hour by hour. Even if there is no more fighting after today the death toll could still rise massively above the numbers that have so far been reported. Deaths from typhoid and other illnesses caused by coalition bombing of water purification plants are set to rise dramatically."

"No government or official agency has yet committed itself to providing an account of the cost of this conflict in civilian lives. A Swiss Government initiative launched in the middle of the war was abandoned under political pressure. Iraq Body Count will not bow to political pressure from any quarter, but will continue to document this starkest statistic of the cost of war for as long as it is needed."

The research work for this project is carried out entirely by volunteers scanning and collating reports from the world's media. A cautious methodology ensures consistent standards of reporting. To be published in the database, a report must be carried by at least two reputable media sources, and provide an unambiguous report of the number of civilians killed.

As of Sunday, 13 April 2003, we have documented at least 1367 and as many as 1620 reported civilian deaths in Iraq.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR WEBMASTERS:

With the war - but by no means the body count - entering its chaotic endphase, Iraq Body Count are introducing a new generation of IBC web counters that include live-updating, scrolling text. As corporate media interest wanes and the issue of civilian deaths is pushed further off the mainstream agenda, your website will be able to continue headlining the human cost of "liberation": the new counters will display details from incidents as and when they are added to our count, which will continue for as long as more civilian killings happen or are discovered.

Other improvements to the new web counters include:

- In response to user feedback, the line "Civilian casualties update" has been changed to "Reported civilian deaths" for greater clarity