Using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article explores the relationship between human rights and criminological discourses concerning paramilitary abuses. The article begins with a critical introduction to peacemaking criminology. It then explores four overlapping styles of interventions designed to mitigate paramilitary violence. These include, attempts to hold paramilitaries accountable through humanitarian law; the use of human rights as a rhetorical base for claimsmaking; attempts to encourage the internalization of human rights discourses through a process of political osmosis; and interventions which have been guided primarily by criminological concerns. The article concludes by suggesting a schema for a `new' version of peacemaking criminology that intersects with and builds upon the human rights paradigm in transforming political or ethnic conflicts.