In particular, it investigates which specific actions of civil society organizations operating in a conflict situation contribute to the securitizing, desecuritizing or holding of the conflict and to the violation, reparation or protection of human rights. It is also a key dynamic at the intersection between understanding and halting conflict, defining and securing human rights in conflict situations and explaining the role of civil society in the context of war. Gender, therefore, is a productive analytical lens to build theoretical and empirical bridges between the three pillars of this endeavour: conflict, human rights and civil society. Firstly, a definition of gender is provided and the relation between gender, securitization (Diez and Pia, 2008), ethnic conflict, human rights and civil society is explored.