Despite the fact that there are strong assumptions surrounding the effects of human rights violations on the risk of civil war, few researchers have tested the relationship in a systematic manner. We draw on both human rights-and civil war research in order to explain how rights might affect conflict risk. Investigating the effects of rights violations poses serious methodological challenges of establishing cause and effect. We apply several remedies in order to meet this methodological challenge, including the application of longitudinal regression analyses. Our main finding is that violations of economic-and social rights, and physical integrity rights increase the risk of civil war, while violations of civil and political rights play only a minor role. The policy implication of this study is that human rights policies are well worth to pursue in order to reduce the risk of violent conflict. Moreover, more attention should be given to economic-and social rights.
