The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights system were created as a blueprint to prevent conflict and build peace.

They also have a special role in averting the escalation of violence. Just as war, conflicts and insecurity increase the incidence of human rights violations, societies that respect human rights experience less violence and insecurity. They are more resilient and more inclusive, human rights reports show.

At a recent meeting, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said human rights was the best starting point for preventing crises and build peace.

“Full compliance with human rights is the best antidote to the inequalities, unaddressed grievances and exclusion which are often at the root of instability and conflict,” Türk said.

By its nature, human rights work is often reactive to events, coming after human rights violations, conflict or crises. To deal with today’s challenges, UN Human Rights is strengthening its focus on prevention, aiming to engage earlier and more strategically to address the risk of violations, conflict or crisis before they impact lives, said James Turpin, Chief of Prevention and Sustaining Peace Section, UN Human Rights.

“Human rights possess preventive power,” Turpin said. “They are essential to addressing the causes and impacts of all complex crises, and to building sustainable, safe, and peaceful societies.”

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An unwavering human rights lens and strong human rights action, based on norms tried and tested, lead us away from chaos and conflict, advance development, and build trust

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UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk

Focus on prevention

From Syria to Sri Lanka to Colombia, the Office is stepping up its efforts to prevent conflict, violence and insecurity, including by addressing the role that inequalities, impunity and discrimination play in triggering conflict.

This includes strengthening work on human rights indicators and data to ensure that human rights information and risk analysis informs early warning, planning and preparedness across the UN system.

The Office’s Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) provide early warning and human rights risk analysis to respond to potential, emerging or current human rights crises. Located across UN Human Rights Regional Offices, ERTs play a crucial role in detecting the root causes of conflict and are part of the Office’s growing work to make prevention and peacebuilding a reality on the ground.

“What we are striving for is data and information in order to act early, so that we can protect the human rights of those left behind,” said Adrian Combrinck, an Information Manager Officer in the Emergency Response Team in South Africa.

Countries in the southern Africa region are among the most unequal in the world, with high costs of living, heavy debt, and increasing food insecurity. Climate change and a growing energy crisis are adding more pressure to a region suffering from social unrest, unemployment, and the shrinking of the democratic space. Combrinck’s and his team’s job is to analyse all these risks across 14 countries to help the UN system focus on preventing human rights violations.

To detect and address drivers of conflict, the Office is also developing solid indicators on killings and violence against human rights defenders, civil society and media, as well as conflict-related deaths. This work can draw on analysing open-source information, for example, to track internet shutdowns and other issues relevant to early warning.

A peace keeper in South Sudan tries on a hat from a market seller. The market was part of a crisis prevent and recovery project sponsored by the United Nations. © UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

At the same time, human rights mandates and mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council’s special procedures and the treaty bodies, offer unique tools to provide early warning of human rights violations. They support states and civil society through capacity building to identify and tackle issues, that, if left unaddressed, can become entrenched and lead to conflict and crisis.

The Office’s push for a more preventive approach is in line with the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights, which stresses that the best form of protection is to avert the threats to people’s lives and rights in the first place and that there is no better guarantee of prevention than for Member States to meet their human rights responsibilities.

Economic, social and cultural rights

But effective early warning and prevention requires that attention be paid to all human rights – economic, social and cultural rights as much as civil and political rights – and that risks are addressed as early as possible, in development contexts as well as in crisis response and peace operations.

Marlene Urscheler, coordinator of the Risk Analysis and Prevention Unit in the Emergency Response Section of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division, said strengthening the bonds between communities, and reinforcing trust and inclusive development is essential for sustainable peace.

“Violations of economic, social and cultural rights can be as significant as violations of civil and political rights, but tend to be overlooked,” Urscheler said.

However, in many cases issues such as land rights, access to healthcare or food security are the underlying factors that feed tension in the communities.

"Prevention encourages us to step back and shift our focus in a creative way.”

In Paraguay, for example, the collection and visualization of data and trends of alleged forced evictions of peasant and indigenous communities helped highlight the risks of increased social unrest and violence. Through this work, the Office was able to engage more effectively with the government, UN, civil society and local communities on measures to mitigate risk of conflict over land rights.

In the Sahel region of Africa, where climate change is adversely affecting a broad range of rights such as access to food, sanitation, health and education, the Office is implementing a project to identify human rights risks due to forced migration and their impact on peace and security.

Human rights activist Yasmin Ullah, a member of the Rohingya community, says Myanmar needs a national truth commission to find peace and reconciliation. © Yasmin Ullah

Accountability

Accountability and participation are also essential to build and maintain trust between communities and the State and to sustain peace. This is particularly the case in situations of grave human rights violations.

The call for justice and accountability resonates deeply for Yasmin Ullah. A Rohingya human rights activist, Ullah, fled Myanmar’s conflict–torn Rakhine state with her family when she was 3. The 31–year–old activist lives in Canada, but says she cannot think of her country “without feeling a lump in my throat.”

Speaking to the Human Rights Council during a recent panel discussion on human rights violations against Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar, Ullah said Myanmar needs a truth and reconciliation commission to come to terms with the legacies of atrocities and massive human rights violations.

“The only way that we can ever get over this pain and heartbreak in Myanmar is through a national truth commission to help heal and reconcile the communities and to find a path forward,” she said, adding that such commission would provide much–needed recognition to victims, an important step towards reconciliation.

For Ullah, who has just published a book on Rohingya myths and legends for children, accountability and transitional justice are the only lasting formulas to ensure that past human rights violations do not sow the seeds of future crises.

“Human rights are also the foundation of community rebuilding and empowerment.”

HR75 Spotlight: Human rights, prevention and peace

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