Human rights and building peace: the case of Pakistani madrasas

Abstract

An increasing number of local, national and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) are diligently working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Muslim societies, and not without success. However, at times, some of these NGOs are perceived to be agents of ‘Western colonisation’ who attempt to undermine traditional structures and customs. Such attitudes are particularly prevalent in many Muslim countries such as Pakistan, which has suffered under colonial regimes for long periods of time. Thus it becomes important to frame human rights and peace-building efforts within the religio-cultural contexts of the community itself and to identify who can be effective agents of peace building and human rights. This article argues that human rights and peace building are inextricably linked and that any peace-building effort must incorporate mechanisms to enhance human rights. One of the main ways in which human rights can be enhanced in a conflict environment is to incorporate it in the critical educational institutions. This article looks at the madrasa training programme, undertaken by the International Center for Diplomacy (ICRD) in Pakistan that included human rights education within an Islamic framework, as a case study, and discusses its effectiveness and required areas of improvement.