Non-state actors in armed conflict resolution: the case of Human Rights Watch in the Congo conflict

• Grant number: 12/12721-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Sérgio Luiz Cruz Aguilar
• Grantee: Renato Henrique Valenzola
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

It is a fact that globalization is a reality in the contemporary world, with the advent of the announcement, never committed atrocities against the human person lying in a vacuum of misinformation. The human rights violations today become the world's knowledge at a speed that was once impossible to be entertained. It is this scenario that arise transnational actors such as Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the role of defenders of the rights of civil society, denouncing, influencing and acting to ensure the welfare of this, especially when the State proves ineffective for this purpose. This inefficiency is latent in the actual environment of armed conflict, and those occurring in the region of North Kivu and South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, are no exception to this rule. This environment opens the door to such transnational actors, willing to contribute to conflict resolution, as the case of the NGO Human Rights Watch, which plays a visible role in the local governance. This project seeks to analyze the performance of NGOs in the conflict in Congo, applying it to the theory of complex interdependence of Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, in order to prove the role of this type of insurgent organization as relevant actor in international relations. (AU)