Civilian

Civilians are persons not actively involved in military or paramilitary duty, and as such are non-combatants in armed conflicts. Civilians are legally protected by official measures such as the Geneva Conventions, ratified 1949, which explicity protect such people from inhumane treatment. However, these moral and legal boundaries have been violated many times throughout history. Approximately 11 million people, the majority of them Jews but also including Soviet prisoners of war, Poles, homosexuals, the disabled, and Jehova's Witnesses, were killed during the Holocaust, a genocide perpetrated by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party (this was a large influence on the formation of the Geneva Conventions). Accusations of further violations of protocol have been raised in nearly every significant conflict since then, from the war in Vietnam to the War on Terror.

In the Call of Duty series
Civilians make several appearances in the Call of Duty games. Firstly, in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, many civilians can be seen being executed by the OpFor in "The Coup", in which the player character is the president of the unnamed nation in which the events take place. Several other non-combatants are seen hiding and fleeing from the violence. A rural farmer appears in the level "Hunted", who is questioned and about to be executed by Ultranationalists (the player can choose to save his life, which earns an achievement, "Man of the People", on the Xbox 360). Two civilians appear in the following level, "Death From Above", when several S.A.S. commandeer two civilian jeeps (the mission is failed if they are attacked). Many civilian drivers can be seen in "Game Over", particularly the first portion of the level in which the player's jeep enters a highway. Shooting them through their windshields has no effect, likely due to the confusion which would arise from a variable such as randomly crashing vehicle in the midst of a scripted chase. Many dead civilians can be seen in "Mile High Club". One last civilian, originally named Kreigler, is held hostage at the end of the mission and must be rescued.

Civilians are not directly seen during gameplay in Call of Duty: World at War. However, Sgt. Reznov references "the cold-blooded murder of men, women, and children alike" throughout Stalingrad and Russia by Nazi forces in "Vendetta." These events have a profound effect on his treatment of enemy soldiers later in the game, as he justifies the brutality of the Red Army's campaign with an "eye-for-an-eye" reasoning. The introductory sequence of "Eviction" mentions the order from Hitler to all citizens of Berlin (described by Reznov as "the young, the old, the weak.") to stand and fight the advancing Russians, accompanied by actual photographs of such people, including a child being instructed on how to operate an MG-42. Reznov coldly simplifies the situation, stating, "If they stand for Germany, they die for Germany." However, no civilians are actually seen during the level. The final sequence of the game also displays footage of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which together killed an estimated 150,000 people. Debates as to whether the bombings were justified continue to this day, with some believing the actions and subsequent Japanese surrender prevented an invasion which would have been far bloodier.

Civilians appear more frequently and in far greater number in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Easily their most prominent appearance is during the mission "No Russian". As an undercover CIA agent, players (in the role of Joseph Allen) join a group of Russian Ultranationalist in an outright massacre in a Moscow airport. Scores of non-combatants are killed by the player's allies, and players are also instructed to kill them as an objective as well. It should be noted that prior to the mission's start, players of the game are given several warnings as to the graphic nature of the following scenes, and may choose to skip the mission entirely.

No Russian sparked a wave of controversy regarding Modern Warfare 2, with many in the media displaying outrage at the notion of players being instructed to kill unarmed civilians in cold blood. In Russia, copies of the game had the mission removed entirely. Some gaming outlets also criticized the level, with IGN likening it to a publicity stunt by Infinity Ward.

A large group of civilians is seen in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the mission "Takedown." A member of Task Force 141 evacuates them from the area with a warning in Portuguese and a burst of gunfire aimed at the sky. Further non-combatants are seen in "Bomb Squad".

Trivia

 * Civilians physically appear during gameplay in only two games: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.