Is attacking the self identity of the victim the prime purpose of an explosive weapon?

Organiser/Chair

Nigel Ellway, Head of Secretariat & Policy Director, All Party Parliamentary Group on Explosive Threats, Director REVIVE Campaign

Many explosive weapons are designed to maim rather than kill. Plus attacking cultural and historical sites (and thus sites of national & religious identity) with explosive weapons makes them in fact a psychological weapon.
Awareness, preparedness and understanding of psychological risk in military vs civilian actors;
The perceptions and reactions to the threat to cultural and historic sites by explosive weapons, and the impact on mental health;
Self-identity and mental resilience. How this can be shattered by a blast injury and how in some circumstances it might be strengthened.
The workshop will take the form of a panel discussion led by:
  • Nigel Ellway Director REVIVE Campaign,
  • Charlotte Copeland CEO SafeHaven ltd.
  • Shehan Hettiaratchy, lead surgeon and major trauma director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS 
  • Maj Peter Norton GC, former ammunition technical officer injured by an IED in Iraq in 2005.