Human Rights Forum: Warlords and Human Rights

There are three main strategies  for address the problem of 'spoilers' of peace processes :   
1)  Socialization: the process of building a common normative foundation;  
2)  Inducement: offering political positions or other alternatives;  
3) Coercion: the use of armed force (or the threat thereof).

The three strategies are not mutually exclusive, but may be blended in different ways over the duration of a peace process.

In Afghanistan, the peacebuilding strategy towards the warlords has been a mix of inducement and coercion , aimed at creating   a 'strong' central government rather than building  a common normative foundation. A warlord declining an official position offered by the government, is confronted with the threat of (international) armed forces.

While this strategy might have prevented the outbreak of a full-fledged war, like in Iraq, the strategy has led to an increased general insecurity , increased  drug production, corruption and land disputes  and made Afghans gradually loose

faith in their new government.   

The Afghan experience challenges common peacebuilding strategies:  Can a peaceprocess be sustained if human rights issues, as  a key element of a common normative national foundation, are neglected?

There will also be two other presentations:

Professor Ignacio Aymerich from University of Castellon, Spain:
"Human Rights Indicators"

Ottar Mæstad, CMI: "Ethics of Health"