Reclaiming the Peacebuilding Agenda: Economic and Social Rights as a Legal Framework for Building Positive Peace - A Human Security Plus Approach to Peacebuilding

This paper examines the exclusion of economic and social rights from peacebuilding. The peacebuilding process has become dominated by a liberal agenda resulting in a 'one size fits all' model of peacebuilding. As a consequence, the inclusion of human rights within the mandate of peacebuilding has also been limited to a liberal conception of human rights constituting only civil and political rights. It is argued that an alternative approach is required which refocuses the peacebuilding agenda on human security: a hybrid 'human security plus' approach to peacebuilding (or a 'inclusive' human rights approach) will ensure the protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights, whilst maintaining protection of civil and political rights, throughout the whole peacebuilding process,: from peace agreements to post-conflict reconstruction. The result will be a reclaiming of the peacebuilding agenda in order to improve its effectiveness and provide a legal framework for building positive peace.