This study maps the interactions between human rights norms and values, on the one hand, and conflict resolution, post-conflict peace-building and reconstruction, on the other. It advances the view both from a theoretical and practical standpoint, that human rights have a role to play throughout the life of any conflict: from the pre-conflict to the post-conflict and reconstruction stages. Identifying entry points for human rights in the pre-conflict stage leading up to the establishment of the rule of law and societal reconstruction after the conflict, this book uses Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo experiences to illustrate the obstacles, the successes, and the significance of human rights norms to the overall peace agenda in societies afflicted by conflict.