When interests meet norms: the relevance of human rights for peace and power-sharing

Abstract

A typical feature of contemporary peace accords and power-sharing agreements are references to human rights. Using a data set of 82 peace agreements from 20 sub-Saharan African countries signed between 1989 and 2011, this article studies the prevalence, origin and relevance of human rights norms to power-sharing agreements. We argue that a fine balance needs to be struck between resolving conflicts and addressing human rights concerns. While most peace and conflict literature so far focuses on war termination, more scholarly attention is due for the role of human rights and their potential in achieving durable peace.

Keywords:

• human rights
• power-sharing
• peace agreements
• realism versus constructivism

Notes

Christine Bell, On the Law of Peace, Peace Agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Michael Doyle and Nicholas Sambanis, Making War and Building Peace (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006); Bumba Mukherjee, ‘Why Political Power-Sharing Peace Agreements Lead to Peaceful Resolution of Some Civil Wars, But Not Others’, International Studies Quarterly 50 (2006): 479–504.

Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hoddie, Crafting Peace Power-sharing Institutions and the Negotiated Settlement of Civil Wars (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007); Anna K. Jarstad, ‘The Prevalence of Power-Sharing Exploring the Patterns of Post-Election Peace’, Africa Spectrum 44, no. 3 (2009): 41–62.

Karl Jr. DeRouen, Jenna Lea and Peter Wallensteen, ‘The Duration of Civil War Peace Agreements’, Conflict Management and Peace Science 26, no. 4 (2009): 367–87.

Barbara Walter, Committing to Peace (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002); Doyle and Sambanis, Making War and Building Peace; Virginia Fortna, Peace Time: Cease-Fire Agreements and the Durability of Peace (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).

Lotta Harbom, Stina Högbladh and Peter Wallensteen, ‘Armed Conflict and Peace Agreements’, Journal of Peace Research 43, no. 5 (2006): 617–31.

Johan Galtung, ‘Violence, Peace, and Peace Research’, Journal of Peace Research 6, no. 3 (1969): 167–91.

Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

According to Krippendorff, content analysis research design generally includes six distinctive stages or phases. These are unitising, sampling, recording/coding respecting the coding instructions, reducing the data to manageable representation relying on established statistical techniques such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), abductively inferring contextual phenomena and narrating the answer or the research findings, see Klauss Krippendorff, Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004), 84.

The research studies the human rights aspects of power-sharing in sub-Saharan Africa. It is part of a two-year project funded by the University of Antwerp Research Fund and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). The data set is available on http://www.ua.ac.be/powersharing.

Chad, Accord de Paix de Syrte (2007) and Accord de Paix entre le Gouvernement Tchadien et le Front Uni Pour le Changement Démocratique (2006).

Sierra Leone, The Lomé Peace Agreement (1999).

Somalia, The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic (2004).

Burundi, The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement (2000), Protocol II.

Bell, On the Law of Peace.

Sudan, Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (2006); Zimbabwe, Agreement between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the Two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Formations on Resolving the Challenges Facing Zimbabwe (2008).

Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Pretoria Peace Agreement (2002), section III.

Rwanda, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the Rwandese Patriotic Front (1993), Annex VII, Article 15.

Mozambique, The General Peace Agreement for Mozambique (1992) in Protocol II, Point 3(e) the agreement prohibits discrimination and persecution on the basis of political opinion. In Protocol IV, Point 2(b) the agreement commits to the principle of non-discrimination in the composition of the Mozambican Defence Force. In Protocol IV, Point IV.3 (c) the agreement provides that the functioning of the State Information and Security Service (SISE) shall be free from discrimination. In Protocol IV, Point V. 2 (c) the agreement provides that the restructuring of the police forces shall be done without discrimination and Point I.a of the Declaration by the Government of the Republic of Mozambique and RENAMO on the Guiding Principles for Humanitarian Assistance includes commitment to non-discrimination in the provision of humanitarian assistance.

Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan (2005) in Part A, Points 1.1 and 1.5 of the Machakos Protocol includes commitments to equality as a priority and one of the agreed principles. Points 6.2 and 6.5 of the section on state and religion and Point 3.2.1 of Part C of the Machakos includes commitments to non-discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. The Preamble of the Chapeau of the comprehensive peace agreement the parties undertake to fully guarantee justice and equality for all. Part I.1.6.2.12, Part I.1.6.2.13, Part I.1.6.2.16, Part II. 2.6.1.4 and Part II 2.8.5 of Chapter II on power-sharing include commitments to equality before the law and prohibit discrimination. The preamble of Chapter V on the Resolution of Conflict in Southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile States includes various commitments to equality. Finally, Point 1.4 of Chapter III on wealth sharing includes a commitment to non-discrimination in the sharing of resources and wealth throughout Sudan.

Kenya, Agreement Statement of Principles on Long Term issues and Solutions (2008).

Zimbabwe Agreement, Article XIX.

Ibid., Article XII.

Sudan, Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, Article 7.

Somalia, The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic, Article 10.

Ibid., Article 14.

Ibid., Article 16; Liberia, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Liberia (2003) Article XII.

Somalia, The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic, Article 16; Liberia, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Liberia, Article XII.

Somalia, The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic, Article 17; Liberia, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Liberia, Article XII.

Liberia, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Liberia, Article XII.

Sudan, Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement.

Zimbabwe, Agreement, Preamble, Article V, Point 5.9, Article VII, Point 7.1(a) and 7.1(d), Article VIII, Point 8.1(a) and 8.1(b), Article XIV, Point 14.1, Article XV, Point 15.1, Article XVI, Point 16.1, 16.3, 16.4(a) and 16.4(b), Article XX, and Article XXII in Point 22.1.

Burundi, Accord de Partage de Pouvoir au Burundi (2004), Article 19.

Ibid., Article 13.

Ibid., Article 15.

Ibid., Article 8.

Ibid., Article 14.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lusaka Peace Agreement (1999), Article I.3; Burundi, Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Burundi and the Palipehutu – FNL (2006), Article II.1.1.5 and Annexure I.4.2.1.6.

Burundi, The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, Protocol I, Chapter II, Article 6.2.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Inter-Congolese Negotiations: The Final Act (The Sun City Agreement) (2003), Resolution 33, Point 7.

Burundi, The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, Protocol II, Article 3, paras 26, 27, and 28; Protocol IV, Article 10; Sierra Leone, The Lomé Peace Agreement, Preamble.

Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan, Part I.10.1.9 of the Permanent Ceasefire and Security Arrangements Implementation Modalities and Appendices; The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Agreement Acte d'Engagement Nord Kivu (2008), Article III.

Liberia, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Liberia, Article XXXI; Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan, Part III.24.9 and 24.10 of the Permanent Ceasefire and Security Arrangements Implementation Modalities and Appendices; Sierra Leone, The Lomé Peace Agreement, Article XXX.

Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan, Preamble of the Chapeau of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and in the Machakos Agreement, Part A.1.2, Part C.3, Points 1.3 and 2.5 of the section on the right to self-determination.

Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan, Chapter V on the Resolution of Conflict in Southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile States Point 1.3 and Chapter III on wealth-sharing, Point 1.10 and Point 3.1.

Ibid., Chapter IV on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict, Point 1.1.3.

Somalia, The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic, Article 66.

Djibouti, Accord de Réforme et de Concorde Civile (2001), Article 3 (b), Article 7, Article 8 (b) and Article 9.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Sun City Agreement, Resolution 21, Point 1 (a) (iii) and (iv) and Point 3 (a) (i) and (ii).

Kenya, Agreement Public Statement-Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation (2008), para. 2.e.

See more generally Stef Vandeginste and Chandra Lekha Sriram, ‘Power Sharing and Transitional Justice: A Clash of Paradigms?’, Global Governance 17, no. 4 (2011): 489–505.

Burundi, The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement; and Burundi, Dar-Es-Salaam Agreement (2006). See also Stef Vandeginste, Stones Left Unturned. Law and Transitional Justice in Burundi (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2010); and Stef Vandeginste, ‘Burundi's Truth and Reconciliation Commission: How to Shed Light on the Past While Standing in the Dark Shadow of Politics?’, International Journal of Transitional Justice 6, no. 2 (2012): 355–65.

Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Agreement Agenda Item 4: Long-Term Issues and Solutions (June 2008).

Liberia, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Liberia, Article VII.2.a.

Côte d'Ivoire, Agreement Linas Marcoussis (2003), Annex on the Programme of the Government of National Reconciliation, Point VI.2.

Zimbabwe, Agreement between ZANU-PF and the Two MDC Formations, Article XVIII.18.

Protocol I, Chapter II, Articles 6.10 and 6.11 and in Protocol II, Chapter II, Article 18.1 of the agreement.

Angola (1994) Lusaka Protocol, Annex 6, Agenda Item II.4.

Burundi, The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, Protocol I, Chapter II, Article 7.

Côte d'Ivoire, Agreement Linas Marcoussis, Annex on the Programme of the Government of National Reconciliation, Point VI.1 and Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan, Chapter II on power-sharing, Part II.2.10.

Anna Jarstad and Ralph Sundberg ‘Peace by Pact: Data on the Implementation of Peace Agreements’, in Globalization and Challenges to Building Peace, ed. Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer and Joakim Öjendal (London: Anthem Press, 2007), 73–9.

Sudan, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of Sudan; and Burundi, The Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement.

Rwanda, The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Annex 1, Article 3 and Annex VII, Article 17.

Angola, The Lusaka Protocol (1994).

Guinea Bissau, Agreement between the Government of Guinea Bissau and the Self Proclaimed Military Junta (1998); Guinea Bissau, Additional Protocol to the Abuja Protocol of 1 November 1998 Concerning the Formation of the Government of National Unity of Guinea-Bissau (1998).

Angola, The Peace Accords for Angola (The Bicesse Accords) (1991).

Angola, Memorandum of Understanding (The Luena Agreement) (2002); Burundi, The Forces Technical Agreement (2003).

Angola, The Bicesse Accords; Burundi, Accord de Partage de Pouvoir au Burundi.

Burundi, Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement.

Lars Kirchhoff, ‘Linking Mediation and Transitional Justice, The Use of Interest-Based Mediation in Processes of Transition’, in Building a Future on Peace and Justice, ed. Kai Ambos, Judith Large and Marieke Wierda (Berlin: Springer, 2009), 237–60. More generally see Jack Donnelly, Realism and International Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); and J. Samuel Barkin, Realist Constructivism: Rethinking International Relations Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’, International Organization 52, no. 4 (1998): 887–917.

Kathryn Sikkink and Carrie Booth Walling, ‘The Impact of Human Rights Trials in Latin America’, Journal of Peace Research 44, no. 4 (2007): 427–45; Ellen Lutz and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘The Justice Cascade: The Evolution and Impact of Foreign Human Rights Trials in Latin America’, Chicago Journal of International Law 2, no. 1 (2001): 1–33; Kathryn Sikkink, The Justice Cascade. How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics (New York: Norton & Company, 2011).

Roger Mac Ginty and Oliver P. Richmond, ‘Myth or Reality: Opposing Views on Liberal Peace and Post-war Reconstruction’, in The Liberal Peace and Post-war Reconstruction: Myth or Reality?, ed. Roger Mac Ginty and Oliver P. Richmond (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009), 1–8.

David Chandler, ‘The Responsibility to Protect? Imposing the “Liberal Peace”’, International Peacekeeping 14, no. 2 (2004): 59–82; Roland Paris, At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); Susanna Campbell, David Chandler and Meera Sabaratnam, ed., A Liberal Peace? The Problems and Practices of Peacebuilding (London: Zed Books, 2011).

Mac Ginty and Richmond, ‘Myth or Reality’.

Roger Mac Ginty, ‘Indigenous Peace-Making versus the Liberal Peace’, Cooperation and Conflict 43 (2008): 144.

Tonya Putnam, ‘Human Rights and Sustainable Peace’, in Ending Civil War: The Implementation of Peace Agreements, ed. Stephen J. Stedman, Donald Rothchild and Elizabeth Cousens (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2002), 237–72.

Marieke Kleiboer, The Multiple Realities of International Mediation (London: Lynne Reinner and Daley, 1998); Patricia Daley, ‘The Burundi Peace Negotiations: An African experience of Peace-Making’, Review of African Political Economy 34, no. 112 (2007), 333–52.

Jacob Bercovitch and Karl DeRouen, ‘Mediation in Internationalized Ethnic Conflicts: Assessing the Determinants of a Successful Process’, Armed Forces and Society 30, no. 2 (2004): 147–70.

Fen Osler Hampson, Nurturing Peace: Why Peace Settlements Succeed or Fail (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996).

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace (New York: United Nations, 1992), 20.

Saadia Touval and William Zartman, International Mediation in Theory and Practice (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985).

Jacob Bercovitch, ‘Mediation in International Conflicts: Theory Practice and Developments’, in Peacemaking in International Conflicts: Methods and Techniques, ed. William Zartman (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace press, 2007), 163–94.

Jacob Bercovitch and Scott Sigmund Gartner, ‘Empirical Studies in International Mediation’, International Interaction 32, no. 4 (2006): 319–28; Jacob Bercovitch and Allison Houston, ‘Why Do They Like it Like This: An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Mediation Behaviour in International Conflict’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 44, no. 2 (2000): 170–202.

Jack L. Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner, The Limits of International Law (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

Putnam, ‘Human Rights and Sustainable Peace’.

Jelena Subotić, ‘The Paradox of International Justice Compliance’, International Journal of Transitional Justice 3 (2009): 362–83.

Stef Vandeginste, ‘Bypassing the Prohibition of Amnesty for Human Rights Crimes under International Law: Lessons Learned from the Burundi Peace Process’, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 29, no. 2 (2011): 189–211.

Andrew Hurrell, ‘Power, Principles and Prudence: Protecting Human Rights in a Deeply Divided World’, in Human Rights in Global Politics, ed. Tim Dunne and Nicholas J. Wheeler (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 277–302.

Ibid., 278.

Marc Peceny and William Stanley, ‘Liberal Social Reconstruction and the Resolution of Civil Wars in Central America’, International Organisation 55, no. 1 (2001): 149–82.

Christine Bell, ‘Peace Agreements: Their Nature and Their Legal Status’, The American Journal of International Law 100 (2006): 401.

Christine Ingebritsen, ‘Norm Entrepreneurs: Scandinavia's Role in World Politics’, Cooperation and Conflict 37, no. 1 (2002), 11–23; Jan Egeland, Impotent Superpower – Potent Small State: Potentials and Limitations of Human Rights Objectives in the Foreign Policies of the United States and Norway (Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1988); John Stephen Moolakkattu, ‘Peace Facilitation by Small States. Norway in Sri Lanka’, Cooperation and Conflict 40, no. 4 (2005): 385–402.

Miriam J. Anderson, ‘Transnational Feminism and Norms in Peace Processes: The Cases of Burundi and Northern Ireland’, Journal of Intervention and State-Building 4, no. 1(2010): 1–21.

Ibid.

Cordula Droege, ‘The Interplay between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in Situations of Armed Conflict’, Israel Law Review 40, no. 2 (2007): 310–55.

Resolution E/CN.4/RES/2005/63 (20 April 2005).

Françoise Hampson and Ibrahim Salama, ‘Working Paper on the Relationship between Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law’, Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/14, 21 June 2005.

S/Res/1894 (11 November 2009); S/Res/1674 (28 April 2006); S/Res/1738 (23 December 2006).

S/Res/1325 (31 October 2000); S/Res/1820 (19 June 2008); S/Res/1889 (5 October 2009); S/Res/1888 (30 September 2009); S/Res/1960 (16 December 2010).

S/Res/1612 (26 July 2005); S/Res/1882 (4 August 2009).

Vandeginste and Sriram, ‘Power Sharing and Transitional Justice’.

Bell, On the Law of Peace; Mark Freeman, Necessary Evils: Amnesties and the Search for Justice (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Bertrand Ramcharan, ‘Human Rights and Conflict Resolution’, in Governance Conflict Analysis and Conflict Resolution, ed. Cedric Hilburn Grant and R. Mark Kirton (Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 2007), 33.

Christian Bay, ‘Positive Peace and Rational Human Rights Priorities’, Security Dialogue 10 (1979): 160–71.

Ramcharan, ‘Human Rights and Conflict Resolution’.

Galtung, ‘Violence, Peace, and Peace Research’.

Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, ‘Greed and Grievance in Civil War’ (World Bank Working Paper No. 2355, May 2000); Karen Ballentine and Jake Sherman, The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003).

Oskar Thoms and James Ron, ‘Do Human Rights Violations Cause Internal Conflict?’, Human Rights Quarterly 29, no. 3 (2007): 674–705.

Arend Lijphart, Thinking about Democracy: Power Sharing and Majority Rule in Theory and Practice (New York: Routledge, 2008); Sujit Choudhry, Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation? (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Ian O'Flynn and David Russell, ‘Should Peace Agreements Recognize Women?’, Ethnopolitics 10, no. 1 (2011): 35–50.

Sahla Aroussi, ‘Women, Peace and Security: Implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 in Peace Agreements’ (PhD diss., University of Ulster, 2011); Christine Chinkin, ‘Peace Agreements as a Means for Promoting Gender Equality and Ensuring Participation of Women – A Framework of Model Provisions’, United Nations Division on the Advancement of Women, Ottawa.

N. Reilly, ‘Seeking Gender Justice in Post-Conflict Transitions: Towards a Transformative Women's Human Rights Approach’, International Journal of Law in Context 3, no. 2 (2007): 164.

Aroussi, ‘Women, Peace and Security’; Christine Chinkin, ‘Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Rehabilitation’, in Peace Work, Women, Armed Conflict and Negotiation, ed. Radhika Coomaraswamy and Fonseka Dilrukshi (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2004), 208–37; Julie Mertus, ‘Improving the Status of Women in the Wake of War: Overcoming Structural Obstacles’, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 41 (2002), 541–56; Christine Bell, ‘Women Address the Problems of Peace Agreements’, in Peace Work, Women, Armed Conflict and Negotiation, ed. Radhika Coomaraswamy and Fonseka Dilrukshi (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2004), 96–126.

Chinkin, ‘Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Rehabilitation’; Bell, ‘Women Address the Problems of Peace Agreements’.

Maria Eriksson Baaz and Maria Stern, The Complexity of Violence: A Critical Analysis of Sexual Violence in the Congo (Uppsala: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, 2010).

Bell, On the Law of Peace.

Ibid., 217.