Human Security

Definition

Human security is a relatively new concept born out of the convergence of research and policy making in development economics, international relations and human rights. Rejecting the traditional focus of security upon the nation state and the protection of territory, human security makes the protection of individuals its primary referent. It seeks to protect not only against external and military threats but also against economic deprivation, starvation, disease, pollution, physical violence, sectarian and ethnic violence, and human rights abuses.

Distinctive Features

The concept of human security gained international prominence in the mid 1990s following its adoption by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a means of advancing ‘freedom from fear and want’. Human security was promoted as a new paradigm focused not only on state sovereignty but also on the security of peoples. It was argued that security would better be fostered by its integration with development, humanitarian, and human rights concerns. Security between states remains a necessary condition of the security of peoples but is not regarded as sufficient to guarantee people's security in their everyday lives. In addition, security must be addressed by political, social, environmental, economic, and cultural programmes designed collectively to give people ‘the building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity’ (UNDP, 1994). In crude terms it asserts that security can only be ensured where people have a basic income, access to food, health care, minimum protection from disease (such as HIV/AIDS), a decent environment and access to water, as well as protection from physical violence. Two important aspects of human security are that the range of actors responsible for security is extended beyond the state alone and that people must not simply be protected but empowered to fend for themselves, not least through the development of local capacity for self-governance. The ultimate goal of human security is the promotion of human dignity and the extension of people's capacity beyond mere survival.

Human security thus resists the tendency of threats like weapons of mass destruction and terrorism to solidify a narrower conception of security as state security. The narrow interpretation of security as pertaining only to the state is said to give insufficient attention both to the daily sources of insecurity suffered by people, particularly in developing countries, and also to the ways in which pursuit of state security can trample human rights and impede humanitarian action, not least in conflict situations and in the ‘war on terror’. Another important distinction between traditional and human security is that whereas the former is principally defensive, the latter signifies a commitment to developing and implementing creative solutions to sources of insecurity.

From its origins with the UN and development agencies, human security has since become an important term for policy makers, policy analysts, and lobbyists. By appropriating the term security, it succeeds in conveying a sense of urgency and consequence that attracts public attention and governmental resources to the otherwise lower profile field of development. As a tool of political campaigning, therefore, human security has [Page 165]had considerable success and become a fashionable term of art. It has had less appeal as a basis for academic analysis.

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