Human Rights and Conflict Resolution in Context

Preventing sweeping human rights violations or wars and rebuilding

societies in their aftermath require an approach encompassing

the perspectives of both human rights advocates and practitioners

of conflict resolution. While these two groups work to achieve

many of the same goals--notably to end violence and loss of

life--they often make different assumptions, apply different methods,

and operate under different values and institutional constraints.

As a result, they may adopt conflicting or even mutually

exclusive approaches to the same problem.

Eileen F. Babbitt and Ellen L. Lutz have collected groundbreaking

essays exploring the relationship between human rights

and conflict resolution. Employing a case study approach, the contributing

authors examine three areas of conflict--Sierra Leone,

Colombia, and Northern Ireland--from the perspectives of participants

in both the peace-making and human rights efforts in each

country. By spotlighting the role of activists and reflecting on what

was learned in these cases, this volume seeks to push scholars and

practitioners of both conflict resolution and human rights to think

more creatively about the intersection of these two fields.