Human Rights and Conflict Transformation are instrumental for sustainable peace and development. Both are key elements for the attainment of social justice and the construction of societies in which every person has the freedom to act upon his or her own choices. However, “peace versus justice” has often been perceived or constructed as a divide by stakeholders from the two respective expert communities. This is also a result of the fact that these two fields have been evolving rather separately during the past decades, both in academia and at practice level.
But Human rights and conflict transformation have much to offer one another. A closer interaction between human rights and conflict practitioners on the ground and the connection of respective tools and approaches deepens our analysis and creates additional synergies: It emphasizes the structural dimensions for sustainable peace and development by putting a stronger focus on systems of governance and power relations in development cooperation.
With this publication we wish to offer a guide and tool box to foster these synergies in our practical work. This intention is strongly backed by the new concept “Human rights in German development policy” (BMZ 2011) which defines human rights as a guiding principle and cross-cutting issue in German Development Cooperation.
