A Path Least Taken: Economic and Social Rights and the Prospects of Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding in Africa
Publisher: Journal of African Law
Author(s): Shedrack C. Agbakwa
Date: 2003
Topics: Conflict Prevention, Economic Recovery, Humanitarian Assistance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Programming
Countries: Africa
A critical appraisal of the dominant conflict prevention and peacebuilding strategies usually deployed in Africa and elsewhere reveals its narrow vision. Despite UDHR's enunciation of human rights-conflicts nexus; the adoption of conflict prevention as one of the primary purposes of the UN; and several ringing endorsements of the interdependence and indivisibility of all rights, the value of socio-economic rights in conflict prevention is vastly under-appreciated. The human rights component of conflict prevention strategies remains largely unreceptive or inattentive to, and dismissive of, the potential role of socio-economic rights in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. This article exposes the prevailing trend in conflict prevention literature, policy and practice. It urges a rethink of the narrow focus of extant conflict prevention strategies in order to enlarge the reach and maximize the potential. As a contribution to the rethinking process, it discusses the benefits of socio-economic rights to conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts and why the non-enforcement of these rights is inimical to these noble efforts.