Human rights and conflict transformation: The challenges of just peace

About the Authors
Michelle Parlevliet has been working on the nexus of human rights and peace work
for some 13 years in various capacities and contexts. She recently completed a posting as senior
conflict transformation adviser for Danida’s Human Rights and Good Governance Programme in
Nepal, in which capacity she also advised the Embassy of Denmark on its support to the peace
process. She previously worked with the Centre for Conflict Resolution in South Africa, the South
African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia. She has consulted for the World Bank (Indonesia), the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Council for Human Rights Policy, the Northern
Ireland Parades Commission and numerous other organisations and networks. She has published
widely on transitional justice, conflict prevention, human rights and peacebuilding, and has
developed a distance-learning course on conflict prevention for national human rights institutions.
She is a member of the international advisory board of the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict at
the University of East London and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Human Rights
Practice, published by Oxford Journals. In 2008/09, she served as an independent expert to the UN/
Spain MDG Trust Fund in its conflict prevention and peacebuilding thematic window.
Dr Thomas Diez is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the
University of Tübingen, Germany. He previously taught at the University of Birmingham and was a
research fellow at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. Among his most recent publications are
co-edited volumes on The European Union and Border Conflicts (Cambridge UP, 2008), Cyprus: A
Conflict at the Crossroads (Manchester UP, 2009) and European Integration Theory (second edition,
Oxford UP, 2009). He received the 2009 Anna Lindh Award for his contribution to the study of
European foreign policy.
Dr Emily Pia is a lecturer at the University of St Andrews, where she teaches Peace
and Conflict Studies. She has worked as a researcher on the EU-funded project: Human Rights in
Conflicts – The Role of Civil Society. Her academic interests include IR theory, deconstruction,
human rights and conflict theory. Currently she is working on Narrative Therapy and Conflict
Transformation.
Alice Nderitu is currently appointed commissioner in Kenya’s national cohesion and
integration commission, which was created as one of the mechansims to address Kenya’s 2008 postelection
crisis. While writing the contribution to this Dialogue, she was the director for Education for
Social Justice (ESJ) with Fahamu, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the strengthening
of human rights and social justice movements (see www.fahamu.org and www.pambazuka.org/
en). She has worked previously as a journalist, a teacher and as programme head on education and
media programmes at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Prisons. A Nairobi
University graduate with degrees and diplomas in Human Rights, Management, Literature, Armed
Conflict and Peace Studies, she specializes in training on human rights, peace and conflict. She
also is experienced in the development of curriculums, information, education and communication
materials. She has developed training materials for and trained UN agencies, civil society
organisations, law enforcement and military officers at the International Military Peace Support
About the Authors & Editors
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