ABSTRACT

When peace operations and crisis management have to deal with the question of human rights implementation, it is usually a question of how to sequence or prioritise different categories of human rights.1 Common sense claims that basic needs have to be covered first; but how does this relate to human rights? How can we measure needs in terms of human security and what does this mean for human rights implementation? This chapter presents a conceptual tool for measuring human security based on a human needs approach by incorporating human rights. The article draws from the lessons learned from peace operations, which often face resistance from the local population when implementing human rights that contrast with the local culture, religion or other values. The framework presented here has two aims. First, it allows the intervening actors to still fulfil their human rights mandate under the principles of neutrality and impartiality. Second, the framework presents guidelines to reduce the risk that intervening actors of peace operations are perceived by local populations as political actors that are parties involved in the conflict.