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Preferred term

collateral damage  

Definition

  • The obligation to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects on the one hand and military objectives on the other is a central tenet of international humanitarian law (the law that applies during an armed conflict). Collateral damage is inflicted when a party to the conflict intends to attack a military objective but kills or injures civilians or destroys civilian objects in addition to, or instead of, destroying the military objective. [Source: Encyclopedia of Social Problems; Collateral Damage]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/collateral_damage

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