A Human Rights Approach to Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in the Africa's Great Lakes Region: a Focus on the Drc Conflict
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The Africa's Great Lakes Region has been the site of the most devastating armed conflicts and humanitarian crises the world has witnessed since the end of the Cold War.The 1994 Rwandan genocide, the epicenter of the Great Lakes conflicts, sparked a horrific multinational conflict that swept across the region.This has ultimately intensified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where it dragged the armies of eight neighbouring countries, guerrilla movements and militias; with millions dying in the fights and attendant massacres, starvations and diseases.Although this catastrophic conflict has attracted a relatively little attention from the international community and powerful institutions like the UN, it calls for a critical re-examination of the approaches to conflict prevention and management, currently available within the UN system.This study critically examines the adequacy and effectiveness of the various methods and approaches to conflict prevention and management as have been applied in resolving the Africa's Great Lakes conflicts.In so doing, it augments the various comprehensive efforts undertaken to address the root causes of these conflicts and lay the foundations for their resolution and for sustainable peace in the region.Conflict prevention is a central goal of the UN system, but it also constitutes one of the UN's greatest challenges.In light of the challenges presented by events in Somalia, the Africa's Great Lakes (especially Rwanda genocide and Congo crises), Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, to mention but only a few, a great deal of research over the past few years have sought to demonstrate the virtues of conflict prevention and to identify how it can better be operationalized.However, the resolution of conflict and achievement of durable peace in any particular part of the world is not confined to a single strategy.Thus a range of tools and strategies available for conflict prevention and management reflect the complex mix of legal, political, economic, social, cultural and institutional factors that coalesce to form violent conflict complexes that frequently transcend state boundaries.Thus there is a need for a holistic approach to prevention, one that addresses the linkage between human rights and conflicts, and recognizes the nexus between the two.In this study therefore, I discuss different approaches to conflict prevention and management before I come to a settled conclusion that each of the different approaches existing within the UN conflict isolation, and it is my pleasure to thank everyone who walked with me.It is important to note that although responsibility for errors rests solely with me, the success of this work has, to a great extent, depended on the efforts, support, contributions, and encouragement from a number of individuals and institutions, without whom this work would not have been accomplished.Indeed, I am grateful to all of them.As it is hard to mention them all by name, perhaps apologies are in order, for all those who are not mentioned here.
Authors: Joensuun Yliopisto, Andrew Mollel
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: United Nations, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Development Programme, International Specialised Skills Institute, New Partnership for Africa's Development, African Union, International Labour Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development
OpenAlex ID: W2095634263