Book written by 1996-97 International Peace and Security Studies – MacArthur Foundation Dissertation Fellow and 2013 DPDF Critical Approaches to Human Rights Research Director Chandra Lekha Sriram, Olga Martin-Ortega, and Johanna Herman:

War, Conflict and Human Rights is an innovative interdisciplinary textbook combining
aspects of law, politics, and conflict analysis to examine the relationship between human
rights and armed conflict.
This second edition has been revised and updated, making use of both theoretical and
practical approaches. 

Over the course of the book, the authors: 

• Examine the tensions and complementarities between protection of human rights and
resolution of conflict, including the competing political demands and the challenges
posed by internal armed conflict; 

• Analyse the different obligations and legal regimes applicable to state and non-state
actors, including non-state armed groups, corporations and private military and security
companies; 

• Explore the scope and effects of human rights violations in contemporary armed
conflicts, such as those in Sierra Leone, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and
the former Yugoslavia, and implications for the “Arab Spring”; 

• Assess the legal and institutional accountability mechanisms developed in the wake of
armed conflict to punish violations of human rights law, and international humanitarian
law such as the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the
International Criminal Court; 

• Discuss continuing and emergent global trends and challenges in the fields of human
rights and conflict analysis. 

This volume will be essential reading for students of war and conflict studies, human
rights, and international humanitarian law, and is highly recommended for students of conflict
resolution, peacebuilding, international security and international relations generally.