ABSTRACT
Lack of human rights observance and accountability are often put forward by donor agencies as key reasons for not engaging positively with societal sources of order, security and justice in post-colonial states. Discussing issues of gender violence in Vanuatu in particular, this chapter argues for a dialogic approach to engaging across significant differences of power and culture on questions of the systemic imposition of suffering. The chapter argues that this is both a more productive way of working against abuse, but may also be fundamental to understanding and working with human rights. This approach encourages a subtle but significant shift to more relational, dynamic approaches to understanding and promoting human rights.
