The connection between respecting human rights and transforming conflict has been well established. Societies that have aimed to shift their attitudes toward respecting human rights tend to have less conflict. This course exposes the students to the links between commitments to upholding and respecting human rights and conflict transformation and possibly reduction. The students in this course will be exposed to the mechanisms and transformations that various societies have experienced in their quest for establishing norms of human rights and the impact such endeavors have had on conflict transformation.

This course aims at providing a theoretical background of conflicts transformation, nation building, peace building and how all these elements should be based on a human rights agenda. This course will refer to a number of international examples of conflict transformation. One of the main goals of this conflict is to get students familiar with a number of conflicts and experiences to move into peace.