Do human rights violations contribute to internal conflict? What effects do different types of human rights violations have on the likelihood of conflict? This article from Human Rights Quarterly examines the links between violations of internationally recognised human rights and the emergence or escalation of internal conflict. It argues that while some human rights violations are associated with conflict emergence or escalation, it is difficult to establish precise causal links. Efforts to address the violation of human rights may, under certain circumstances, run the risk of contributing to conflict emergence or escalation.
Violations of civil and political rights are more obviously linked to conflict than abuses of economic and social rights. Discrimination and violations of social and economic rights function as underlying causes, creating grievances and group identities that may lead to violence. In contrast, violations of civil and political rights are more clearly identifiable as direct conflict triggers. When populations are unsettled by long-standing inequalities in access to basic needs and political participation, government repression may trigger violent conflict.
Research on human rights violations and conflict suggests that:
- While low levels of development are associated with high levels of internal conflict, there is little evidence to suggest that absolute poverty provokes conflict. Groups threatened with subsistence crises are, in fact, the least likely to be politically active.
- Inequality, when caused or reinforced by state discrimination, is associated with conflict emergence, although the precise causal relationship and relevant inequality types remain unclear.
- Abuses of personal integrity rights are associated with conflict escalation, with a strong causal link between repression and conflict. The most repressive countries, however, are less likely to experience conflict than moderately repressive states.
- Denial of political participation rights is a conflict risk factor in that established democracies experience less conflict. However, the most autocratic countries experience less conflict than intermediate states.
Possible remedies for risk factors are complicated, since some violations may reduce the risk of conflict, while some measures to limit violations may increase it. Some remedial discrimination and group rights can avert conflict, while democratisation and efforts to restrain repression could contribute to conflict. Those adopting rights-based approaches to conflict reduction and prevention should
- consider nuanced, context-specific efforts to reduce discrimination, be careful not to contribute to existing inequalities, and improve access to political participation;
- weaken the state’s appetite for repression through well-designed security sector reform, effective national human rights commissions and other violence-monitoring efforts;
- pursue democracy-building efforts cautiously and in conjunction with efforts to reduce the political uncertainties associated with regime transition;
- undertake more systematic research and data development on the conflict implications of inequality, discrimination, violations of economic and social rights; and
- undertake more research on the human rights and conflict implications of regime transition, state-building and governance reform.
