1. Conceptualization of Human Security
In the past, it was thought that world peace and security could be preserved by maintaining and expanding national security. National security had centered on the strategies that political and military leaders pursue in their respective countries to defend their national interests, with a focus on military, diplomatic, economic, and informational instruments of power. However, in the globalized world, meeting these different, complex and serious challenges requires a new philosophy and a set of actions that transcend conventional frameworks at the national level, one that prioritizes “human security”.
The rigorous articulation of the human security concept is generally traced to the publication of the Human Development Report (HDR) of 1994 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP highlighted the importance of a transition in thinking about security – from the security of the state to the security of persons ;[1] from a concern with weapons to a concern with human life and dignity[2] (UNDP, 1994, p. 22). Thus, the definition of human security is based on two key aspects: “first, safety from such chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression. And second…protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life – whether in homes, in jobs or in communities”.[3] In sum, the 1994 HDR highlighted as the two major components of human security, ‘freedom from fear’ and ‘freedom from want’.
The HDR outlines seven dimensions of human security: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security.[4] Considerable links and overlaps exist among these seven elements of human security, but the list is neither comprehensive nor definitive. Extant literature building on these components have led to various definitions of human security. The Commission on Human Security (CHS), co-chaired by Sadako Ogata and Amartya Sen, described human security to mean: “protecting the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfillment. Human security means protecting people from critical (severe) and pervasive (widespread) threats and situations.”[5] Reminiscent of this definition, the African Union Non-Aggression and Common Defense Pact by the African Union (AU) explain that human security refers to security “of the individual in terms of satisfaction of his/her basic needs” [6] which has a broad social, economic, cultural, political and environment spectrum that safeguard human dignity. Thus conceptualized, human security offers “a vision of security rooted in the lives of people”[7] compliments the traditional notion of security[8], and is “a necessary supplement to human development”[9] as it aims to strengthen people’s ability to achieve freedom and to realize their potentials.[10]Hence, human insecurity is a function of multiple factors affecting the well-being of individuals or communities.[11]
[1] Alkire, S. (2003). A Conceptual Framework for Human Security (Oxford: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), 2003), 3; Gasper, D. “Securing Humanity: Situating ‘Human Security’ as Concept and Discourse,” Journal of Human Development 6, no. 2 (2005): 221-245.
[2] UNDP, Human Development Report 1994 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
[3] UNDP, Human Development Report 1994, 23.
[4] Ibid., 24-33.
[5] Ogata S., and Sen A., Human Security Now: Protecting and Empowering People. (New York: Commission on Human Security, 2003), 4.
[6] African Union, African Union Non-Aggression and Common Defense Pact (2005), 5. Retrieved from http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/AFRICAN_UNION_NON_AGGRESSION_AND_COMMON_DEFENCE_PACT.pdf
[7] UNDP, Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis. Human Development Report 2006 (New York: UNDP, 2006), 3.
[8] Commission on Human Security, 2003, p. 2
[9] Bajpai K., Human Security: Concept and Measurement (2000), 13.
[10] Research Group, Institute for International Cooperation (IFIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (2006). Poverty Reduction and Human Security.
[11] Biswas, N. (2011). Is the Environment a Security Threat? Environmental Security Beyond Securitization. International Affairs Review 20, no. 1 (2011): 1-22; Page, E., and Redcliff, M. (Eds) (2002). Introduction: Human Security and the Environment at the New Millenium. In E. A. Page & M. Redcliff, Human Security and the Environment (pp. 1-24). Cheltenhanm: Edward Elgar; Barnett, J. (2011). Human Security. In J. Dryzek, R. Norgaard& D. Scholsberg (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society (pp. 267-277). Oxford: Oxford University Press.