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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 September 2019
Human rights and conflict resolution have been traditionally perceived as two separate fields, with contradictory principles and conflicting approaches toward achieving peace. This essay aims to understand these two fields in a more integrative way, showing how a human rights perspective can enrich the theory and practice of conflict resolution. It clarifies the main characteristics of a human rights approach to conflict resolution and identifies a set of human rights standards guiding its implementation: a normative legal framework; structural conditions for peace; participation and inclusion; and accountability and redress. The essay also briefly applies a human rights approach to the Colombian peace process and to the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The conclusion addresses one of the main criticisms of this approach and its principal challenges.
Editor's note: The publication of this essay was made possible by the initiative and support of Joy Gordon, Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Professor in Social Ethics at Loyola University-Chicago.
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28 United Nations Security Council, “Letter Dated 29 March 2017 from the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council,” S/2017/272, April 21, 2017, colombia.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/s-2017-272_e.pdf.
29 Sandra Borda and Martha Gutiérrez, “Between Peace and Justice: The Role of Human Rights Norms in Colombia's Peace Process,” in Fuentes-Julio and Drumond, eds., Human Rights and Conflict Resolution.
30 Ibid. pp. 223–4.
31 Amnesty International, Colombia: Restoring the Land, Securing the Peace; Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Territorial Rights (London: Amnesty International, 2015).
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37 See, for example, Article VIII, Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization, September 13, 1993; and Articles XIII and XIV, Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization, September 28, 1995, annex I.
38 Article XI of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, for example, states: “Recognizing the mutual benefit of cooperation in promoting the development of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel, upon the entry into force of this Declaration of Principles, an Israeli-Palestinian Economic Cooperation Committee will be established in order to develop and implement in a cooperative manner the programs identified in the protocols attached as Annex III and Annex IV.” See also Bell, Peace Agreements and Human Rights, pp. 200–203.
39 Article XI, Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. See also Article II, Wye River Memorandum, Israel–Palestine Liberation Organization, October 23, 1998.
40 Bell, Peace Agreements and Human Rights, p. 205.
41 Ibrahim and Kaufman, “Human Rights and Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreements,” pp. 204–6.
42 Amnesty International, Palestinian Authority: Prolonged Political Detention, Torture, and Unfair Trials (London: Amnesty International, 1996), p. 26.
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