Violence is not human nature. This was the clear conclusion from a meeting of scientists in Seville in 1986. The Seville Manifest convincingly argued that violence was not genetic, and was simply a social construct, an invention. Unfortunately, it has not been given much attention. One reason may be that it is more difficult to justify the need for war if it is proven that no-one is violent by birth, that there is no “evil”, no natural aggression. Still, there is violence. In Sri Lanka, more than 65,000 people have been killed in the war which has been going on since the 1970s. Now, if violence is a learnt behaviour, why do we behave violently? And how can such violent behaviour successfully be deterred, prevented?

Within international relations and peace studies, conflict resolution approaches look at these questions. Through conflict resolution, one considers the sources of conflict in order to addres s the roots of the problem, thereby avoiding or preventing violence.

One theory which looks at the roots of conflict, is Human Needs Theory (HNT).

Often ignored and neglected by peace researchers, HNT may offer valuable insights into the sources of conflict, and thus possible resolution

s. This paper will look at how HNT can be applied to a current conflict, the one being fought between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In its first part, the paper will be looking at HNT and some of its theoris ts, and then move on to consider the usefulness and the criticis

ms of HNT. In the second part, the conflict in Sri Lanka will be presented briefly and some of the main issues of the conflict outlined. HNT will then be applied to the conflict, to see whether it may prove useful in moving towards resolution.

Also considering issues of perception, enemy image s and lack of trust when outlining how to move towards resolution, the paper will finally conclude, observing that HNT could effectively give new insights into finding strategies which may work for both parties.