Reconciliation and Human Rights in Northern Ireland: A False Dichotomy?
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Date
2013
Authors
Beirne, Maggie
Knox, Colin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Human Rights Practice
Abstract
Peace building interventions in Northern Ireland have attracted at least two
approaches—those which advocate from a human rights-based perspective, and
others which promote community relations and reconciliation as a methodology to
build and consolidate peace. These interventions have been seen by many practitioners
as competing and mutually exclusive. Broadly expressed, human rights participators
described their work as primarily about challenging governments; it focuses
on issues of accountability; it relies on the law and legally imposed frameworks; it is a
mixture of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ law; it has, for some human rights practitioners, a confused
stance regarding the overlap between civil and political rights on the one hand,
and economic, social and cultural rights on the other; and it relies greatly on international
concepts, standards, and campaigning. Exponents of reconciliation, on the
other hand, argued that their work is primarily about bottom-up human dynamics
and relationship-building; the creation of trust as a prerequisite to working together
and breaking down barriers; and, the importance of processes as much or more
than the eventual product (on the ‘how’ as much as, or at least before, the ‘what’).
Drawing on primary qualitative data from activists in both ‘camps’, this article will
evaluate if these approaches represent a false dichotomy which fails to acknowledge
potential synergies.
Description
Keywords
conflict, peace, reconciliation, transitional justice
Citation
Maggie Beirne and Colin Knox; 2013; Reconciliation and Human Rights in Northern Ireland: A False Dichotomy?; Journal of Human Rights Practice; http://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/2285