The phrase "human shield" means using people as a barrier or protection against danger or harm. It involves placing innocent individuals in harm's way to shield oneself from attacking forces or to prevent them from being targeted.
In that case and we are being used as human shields for the battle - tanks of the Tory party of Big Capital. (socialliberal.net)
Since the beginning of last week, ISIS has taken thousands of people hostage from the outskirts of Mosul into the main parts of the city, and United Nations officials fear that the plan is «to use them as human shields against the Iraqi forces advance on Mosul.» (relevantmagazine.com)