Activating Human Rights and Peace : Theories, Practices and Contexts

Using a diverse cross-section of case studies, Activating Human Rights and Peace argues that we need to appreciate that cultivating a human rights and peace consciousness is choice-less. There is a moral imperative to engender and sustain an ethical praxis that is motivated by a concern and commitment for how we live with each other. In doing so, we need to link experience substantively to education and vision, as these are mutually sustaining.

Human rights and peace issues and concerns have come about at a critical time. The world has recently witnessed a plethora of turning points that speak of the hopes and vulnerabilities which are inherent in being human and demonstrate that change in the service of human rights and peace is possible. At the same time, however, other events indicate that wherever there is life, there is vulnerability in a world characterized by instability and endemic human suffering. On top of all this, the collapse of the global financial system and the serious, rapid destruction of the environment have brought the world to a precarious state of vulnerability. Activating human rights and peace is, therefore, a project that is always in progress, and is never finally achieved. This enlightening collection of well thought through cases is aimed at academics and students of human rights, political science, law and justice, peace and conflict studies and sociology.