"The cooperative project ATLAS responds to this call by examining the role and impact of the rule of law and international humanitarian law applicable during armed conflict with regard to effectively promoting and protecting human rights. From a prospective standpoint, normative weaknesses and gaps must first be pinpointed. The operational dichotomy between proclaiming a right and assuring its effective respect must lead to proposing rules designed specifically to assure greater effectiveness of the existing legal framework by taking into account the concrete realities of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Due to the non traditional configuration of contemporary conflicts and the diversification of the actors implicated therein, violations of international human rights and humanitarian law have taken on new forms. Either the existing legal framework must be strengthened, or new legal responses must be developed. The overall objective of this study is to determine how the EU may contribute to promoting human rights and international humanitarian law both during and after armed conflicts. In this context, ATLAS will compare existing international legal rules with the practice of both Member states and third states in order to support decision-making by decision-makers. The Member states that have been chosen (France, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom) represent both the Roman-Germanic and common law legal traditions and the diversity of national practices among Member states. The third states/region that have been selected are Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Kosovo), Haiti and Sierra Leone. These areas were chosen according to two principles: their experience with peace operations and the existence of national reconciliation procedures. Peace operations are or were undertaken under either UN or regional auspices, either independently or in a complementary manner. National reconciliation is brought about in different ways,"