The dramatic reality of contemporary conflicts and related violent crisis is the heavy toll of armed violence on civilians. The changing nature of conflict have brought about strategies and tactics that have made vulnerable groups in society the specific target of attack, as the evidence compiled in databases and reports suggests. In a context of evolving forms of ‘war’ and other forms of violent conflict, the protection of human rights faces unprecedented challenges and poses essential dilemmas. Against this backdrop, Work Package 10 (WP 10) ‘Human Rights Violations in Conflicts’, part of the FP7 project ‘Fostering Human Rights Among European (External and Internal) Policies’ (FRAME) aims at providing a comprehensive assessment of the Europan Union external policies in response to conflicts and crisis situations, exploring ways to prevent and overcome violence through the integration of human rights, humanitarian law and democracy/rule of law principles.
As a first step, this report tackles the complex relationship between conflicts and human rights, taking into account the evolving and multifaceted nature of conflicts in the modern world. The report provides a comprehensive survey of the various patterns of human rights violations related to conflict and violent crisis situations with a specific focus on the rights of vulnerable groups, as well as on the role of non-state actors as key players in the context of new forms of violence and war.