Human Rights as Peacemaker: An Integrative Theory of International Human Rights

To enhance and expand human rights, advocates have increasingly reached to include international humanitarian law (IHL) and international criminal law (ICL) as bodies of law also based on the ideal of human dignity and worth. However, while human rights clearly express a moral dimension, the human rights project did not originate as a movement of moral reform, but rather as a means of sustaining peaceful coexistence. To demonstrate the salience of this perspective, I will begin by reviewing the development of human rights, humanitarian law, and international criminal law in light of how they promote peace by protecting human dignity.