A/HRC/17/39 Annex II Some pointers on concepts of peace This appendix intends to give a brief overview over different dimensions and approaches on peace and a right thereof. It mainly focuses on who may be right holders and duty bearers, whether a right to peace can be perceived as an individual and/or collective right and on the prospect of a juridification of a right to peace. Further, it focuses on the relationship of a right to peace to other human rights and introduces the notion of human security. A. Negative and positive peace 1. A key issue, abundantly discussed in academic debate is what constitutes peace or absence of peace. Negative peace is often understood to signify the absence of direct, physical violence. 2. In contrast, the understanding of positive peace goes beyond strict absence of armed conflict and is associated with the elimination of all kinds of violence and effective respect for all human rights. Only in peaceful environments, the conditions for satisfying the basic needs of human beings are met.a Naturally, notions of positive peace differ considerably in states and societies over time, but there are certainly some common elements. To give just one example, the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame asserts that ‘peace’ within peace studies, “is defined not just as the absence of war (negative peace), but also the presence of the conditions for a just and sustainable peace, including access to food and clean drinking water, education for women and children, security from physical harm, and other inviolable human rights (positive peace). This idea is rooted in the understanding that a “just peace” is the only sustainable kind of peace; an approach that seeks merely to “stop the guns” while ignoring the denial of human rights and unjust social and political conditions will not work in the long run”.b 3. Another perspective is Johan Galtung’s approach: “The basic point is that peace is a relation, between two or more parties. The parties may be inside a person, a state or nation, a region or civilization, pulling in different directions. Peace is not a property of one party alone, but a property of the relation between parties. Saying that in no sense belittles the significance of the party's intent and capability to build peaceful relations. But, like a marriage, it is not the sum of the capabilities of the parties. Which is why we can have lovely people related in a less-than-lovely marriage. And vice versa. What kind of relations can we have? Three types, it seems: a b (a) Negative, disharmonious: what is bad for one is good for the Other. (b) Indifferent: a non-relation, they do not care about the Other. We just recall here the debate about (structural) violence, use of force, war, right of selfdetermination, right of resistance to cite only a few aspects of a complex issue. The Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, “What is peace studies?”, http://69.5.8.7/node/312, retrieved at 12 Oct 2010. 29