ASTK15677U SEMINAR: Peace-building and Human rights - Policies, Institutions, Approaches and Politic

Despite widespread recognition that the understanding of violent conflict and processes of peace-building requires a multi-dimensional lens, the human rights and conflict resolution fields have frequently been at odds with little effort to ‘reconcile’ contradictory findings and approaches. The two fields have operated as relatively distinct communities both in terms of research and policy/practice. Many instances can be found, where tensions between the two agendas are apparent. One classical example is the fact that the ‘international community’ have increasingly emphasized the need for judicial accountability and measures to address impunity for human rights violations but this is often challenged by national state and political actors arguing that such measures are distorting the peace process, social harmony, and reconciliation. The course will explore dilemmas such as this in the inter-section between human rights and peace-building, and will provide students with both conceptual and practical insights into the main challenges and opportunities in the policies, institutions, approaches and politics related to human rights and peace-building in the 21^st century.

Week 1: Introduction - Understanding peace-building and the link between peace-building, conflict resolution and human rights (including sessions on a) the basic concepts of peace-building, conflict resolution and human rights and how they are linked, and b) the different lenses of conflict resolution and human rights and their implications for practice)

Week 2: The institutions and actors involved in peace-building and human rights(including sessions on a) Understanding the key national and regional actors in peace-building and human rights, and b) understanding international actors in peace-building and human rights)

Week 3: Peace-building –  Policies, Institutions, Approaches and Politics (including sessions on a) an overview of the academic, policy, and practical fields of peace-building, and b) practical approaches to peace-building at local and national level)

Week 4: Human Rights in conflict affected states – Policies, Institutions, Approaches and Politics (including sessions on a) international human rights mechanisms and their role in conflict-affected contexts and b) transitional justice in the intersection between human rights and peace-building)

Week 5: The politics of human rights and peace-building (including sessions on a) the politics of human rights and peace-building including discussions of ‘liberal peace’ and universality of human rights, and b) analysis of the process in Denmark to develop a new foreign and security policy, and/or analysis of the refugee crisis in the perspective of human rights and peace-building

Week 6: Participation in international seminar on Human Rights and Peace-Building(including sessions on constitutionalism and global governance in relation to human rights and peace-building)

Week 7: Conclusion (including sessions on the link between theory, policy, and practice and practical approaches to policy engagement, strategic development, and evaluation in human rights and peace-building)