Conflict Observatory

The Ukraine Conflict Observatory is an American non-governmental organization which analyzes and publicizes evidence of Russian war crimes and other atrocities in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1] The organization uses open source intelligence research methods and commercial satellite imagery and data to produce reports that meet legal standards for use in international accountability efforts, and real time data to aid humanitarian organizations.

Conflict Observatory
FormationMay 17, 2022 (2022-05-17)
FounderUnited States Department of State
PurposeDocumentation of war crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Location
  • United States
Official language
English
Budget (2022)
$6 million (USD)
Websitehttps://conflictobservatory.org

Organization

The Conflict Observatory was developed by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations at the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,[2] and was officially announced by State Department press secretary Ned Price on May 17, 2022.[3][4] The Conflict Observatory is a collaborative endeavor with geographic information system (GIS) company Esri, the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), led by Nathaniel Raymond and Kaveh Khoshnood,[5] the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, Alcis, PlanetScape Ai, Quiet Professionals LLC, and unclassified medium-to-high resolution electro optical imagery and remote sensing data from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and National Reconnaissance Office via the Global-Enhanced GEOINT Delivery system.[6] None of the data the Observatory uses and disseminates is classified; the satellite imagery comes from NGA's commercial contracts with private companies.[7]

An initial $6 million investment was provided by the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, with future funding allocated from the European Democratic Resilience Initiative (EDRI).[4][8]

Reports

On May 17, Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab provided evidence supporting allegations of violations of international law perpetrated by the armed forces of the Russian Federation in five Ukrainian cities and regions to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Moscow Mechanism to support an investigation by the organization. The evidence corroborated public reporting with commercial satellite imagery and open source intelligence.[9]

Later presented as the first Conflict Observatory report, the HRL review of 277 healthcare facilities across five cities and regions in Ukraine concluded that "Russia-aligned forces have engaged in widespread and systematic bombardment of Ukrainian healthcare facilities" and that "22 of the 277 healthcare facilities in Ukraine have sustained damage from apparent Russian bombardment between 24 February and 29 March 2022."[9]

While executive briefs of reports will be made available to the public, the full data sets are Closed Source, though outside organizations and international investigators would be able access the full contents of the database.[7]

References
  1. "Conflict Observatory". Conflict Observatory. April 1, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  2. "U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Conflict & Stabilization Operations". Esri Videos: GIS, Events, ArcGIS Products & Industries. February 6, 2023. Archived from the original on April 20, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  3. Birchill, Emma (May 17, 2022). "Promoting Accountability for War Crimes and Other Atrocities in Ukraine". United States Department of State. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  4. Psaledakis, Daphne (May 17, 2022). "U.S. launches program to capture, analyze evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine". Reuters. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  5. Lacerda Naia dos Santos, Sabrina (May 17, 2022). "Yale Joins Conflict Observatory Documenting Ukraine War Crimes". Yale School of Public Health. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  6. "NGA contributes to State Department-supported effort to document potential war crimes, other atrocities in Ukraine". National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  7. Elliott, Vittoria. "The US Plan to Document War Crimes in Ukraine". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  8. Birchill, Emma (April 27, 2022). "The European Democratic Resilience Initiative". United States Department of State. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  9. "Conflict Observatory". Yale School of Public Health. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
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