Human Rights Law remains an essential tool in the effort to minimize suffering in war, and stand up for justice in the face of overwhelming injustice. Still, as Theckanath points out, we should not lose sight of the larger struggle: to eradicate war completely.

At its best Contemporary Peacemaking treads the uneasy terrain between theory and practice, forging the types of links that are absolutely essential for the comparative work the editors quite clearly believe is of use for peace processes. There is much work to be done in this zone between the

I recently attended the Nairobi Summit, the First Review Conference of the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. There are nations that stayed away. It is a shame.

Drawing on her extensive experience with UN peacekeeping operations, including serving as Senior Gender Advisor for MINUSTAH, Nadine Puechguirbal discusses some of the ongoing challenges to gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping missions, and ultimately, the creation of a more just society.

How do peacebuilders promote change? Author: Laura Harms Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 08/09/2008 Category: Comment As our summer program came to an end last week, I asked students to reflect on their role as individuals and members of organizations in promoting change. For me as well

La Carpio is a poor community in Costa Rica, nestled against a wealthy enclave of North American and European ex-patriots. Lynn Schneider takes a sobering look at the discrimination and inequalities faced by residents of La Carpio, demonstrating that cultural and structural violence are deeply ingrained, even in a country

Peace in Kenya Campaign Author: Peter Ongera Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 04/02/2008 Category: Conciliation Kenya’s post-election violence has been, to say the least, an unanticipated tragedy with far-reaching implications. Even as the country’s calm returns, albeit slowly, underlying tension is evident. With over 1,000 lives lost

The collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union fundamentally altered the structure of international relations and the expression of violent conflict. Where war was once considered the business of nation states, non-state actors and intrastate wars have come to the forefront of global security concerns. Givi Amiranashvili analyses the legal

Satomi Tsuchiya argues for the greater use of sport in peace and development work, with reference to the great potential of sport to engage youth especially -- of both genders -- in positive social activities that build trust and community.

This essay revisits the classical argument of democratic-peace in reference to more recent political events, including the US and UK led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and concludes that democracy in and of itself is an insufficient indicator of a given state's likelihood of engaging in war. The message of