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View the PDF File: Of Peace and Justice: The Impact of Human Rights in Peacemaking (opens in a new window)

Abstract: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: The nexus of human rights and peacemaking constitutes a highly significant feature of post-Cold War international conflict intervention. However, its understanding and conceptualization by advocates, policy-makers, and academics remains unsatisfactory. The nature of the interplay between peacemaking and human rights or between peace and justice is often described in simplistic terms. In policy circles, human rights and peacemaking are often portrayed as either completely antagonistic peace versus justice or as inherently compatible no peace without justice. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to get at the heart of the interplay between peace and justice in order to grasp the complexity of the impact of human rights in peace negotiations. It concludes that while peacemaking and human rights are generally compatible, a fundamentalist promotion of norms in the context of peace negotiations, without regard to opportunity costs and alternative strategies, can lead to negative outcomes. In order to mitigate this, human rights should be deployed pragmatically taking into account their impact in terms of conflict resolution.