Items related to "Human Security Gateway: Human Security: Concept and Critique". Fri, 16 May 2008 0:30:34 +0000 Fri, 16 May 2008 0:30:34 +0000 robert_hartfiel@sfu.ca (Robert Hartfiel) Wed, 14 May 2008 16:10:44 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24370 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24370 Cette étude porte sur les termes et les circonstances dans lesquels le gouvernement canadien a construit et légitimé la politique de sécurité du Canada en Afghanistan de 2001 à 2007. Par la mobilisation des grilles analytiques des approches théoriques postmoderne et constructiviste critique aux Relations internationales, l’auteur identifie et décrit un processus de renouvellement de l’internationalisme canadien dans le sens d’une politique étrangère davantage interventionniste, fondée sur une redéfinition des notions de souveraineté et de territorialité, ainsi que sur un rapport problématique entre militarisme et développementalisme. (date de publication = septembre 2008) SOURCE: Centre d'études des politiques étrangères et de sécurité Centre d'études des politiques étrangères et de sécurité Mon, 12 May 2008 13:04:47 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24299 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24299 I endorse many of the policy goals that have been pursued under the banner of human security, including the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, the creation of an international criminal court to hold individuals responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the campaign to outlaw land mines and curb the proliferation of small arms, as well as efforts to promote environmental sustainability and to increase the number of people in the world with access to clean water, food, and shelter. When I wrote about the concept of human security in 2001, however, I made a point of distinguishing between the laudable objectives of the human security campaign and the problematic definition of the human security concept itself (Paris 2001, 87–102). My argument was that the concept had been so broadly and vaguely defined that it was difficult to know what, if anything, did not count as a threat to human security. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for example, human security included ‘safety from such chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression’ as well as ‘protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life—whether in homes, in jobs or in communities’ (UNDP 1994, 23). The scope of this definition was vast: virtually any kind of unexpected or irregular discomfort could conceivably constitute a threat to one’s human security. SOURCE: University of Ottawa // Paris, Roland University of Ottawa // Paris, Roland Fri, 09 May 2008 11:15:48 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24272 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24272 The last decade of the twentieth century witnessed a profound change in the nature of conflict around the world. Observers celebrated the declining number of inter-state conflicts, just as a proliferation of complicated intra-state disputes, conflicts and emergencies began to take hold. These situations have presented an altogether different class of crisis, and in case after case the international community has been unable to recognize, forestall or even mitigate the effects of a rapid collapse in human security. In this paper we revisit the idea of human security. We argue that a narrow focus on material resources has prevented analysts from identifying the true sources of vulnerability or resilience in a population, and we set out a conceptual approach which pays due attention to the psychological and social bases of community stability. In other words, we aim to engage the recurring question of what makes conflict more likely in one place rather than another by exploring the underlying conditions or factors that support constructive coping mechanisms in the face of threats or hazards. How was it that peace could ‘break out’ in Mozambique, a hotbed of insurgency and ideological confrontation, while in Rwanda, long viewed as a model of development, unmanageable violence lay so close beneath the surface of society? SOURCE: United States Agency for International Development // Complex Emergency Response Transition Initiative United States Agency for International Development // Complex Emergency Response Transition Initiative Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:43:13 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23846 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23846 The concept of human security, which emerged in the 1994 UNDP Development Report, is on its way to changing the practice and institutions of global governance. The underlying issues of human security— a focus on the individual, the waning of state sovereignty and the rise of new actors, the shift in our understanding of security, the need and risks of “saving strangers” through humanitarian intervention, the reform of the Security Council, the conduct of complex peace missions, and the adequate reaction to new threats—pose a challenge to international law. As a value-based and people-centered approach to security, human security will contribute to normative changes in the international legal order. SOURCE: Global Governance Global Governance Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:51:01 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23517 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23517 The renowned development economist Mahbub ul-Haq, in his visionary work on human development in the early 1990s, first analyzed in depth the notion that human security is an essential aspect of sustainable human development. In a landmark 1994 Human Development Report, Haq urged that the concept of security should move away from a stress on territory and armaments and toward an emphasis on people and sustainable human development. That report described the concept of human security as having two main aspects: "It means, first, safety from such chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression. And second, it means protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life." SOURCE: IC Net Limited // Japan Internatinoal Cooperation Agency IC Net Limited // Japan Internatinoal Cooperation Agency Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:27:15 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23513 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23513 One of the greatest impediments to human security in the post-Cold War era is not interstate wars resulting in mass destruction fought by the armed forces of nation states, but violence, perpetrated by individuals, groups, and state actors within the internal borders of nations (Hegre et al, 2001). Violence, resulting from everyday crime, large-scale communal conflicts and insurgencies, or through state repression can and does undo the development gains achieved in education, health, employment, capital generation and infrastructure provision. Violence is a public health problem, a human rights problem, a community problem, and a problem for the state and the international community. It impedes human freedom to live safely and securely and can sustain poverty traps in many communities. However, violence is not always an inevitable part of human interaction. Many multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and poor peoples manage human interaction and channel conflict and the propensity for violence in peaceful ways. SOURCE: Centre for Research on Inequality Human Security and Ethnicity // University of Oxford Centre for Research on Inequality Human Security and Ethnicity // University of Oxford Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:36:28 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23311 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23311 Il existe un consensus international sur la responsabilité des auteurs des crimes les plus graves relevant du droit international – le génocide, les crimes contre l’humanité, les crimes de guerre, la torture et les disparitions forcées. L’obligation d’enquête et de poursuite de tels crimes a été reconnue comme une obligation erga omnes, c’est à dire qu’il s’agit d’un intérêt juridique commun à tous les États ; elle se reflète dans les traités internationaux et dans les principes du droit international coutumier. De plus, les victimes de tels crimes se sont vues reconnaître un droit exécutoire au recours et à une réparation adéquate et effective. Sans réparation, des sentiments d’impuissance et de désenchantement peuvent maintenir les survivants dans un ‘état de victime’ perpétuel. L’accès à des voies de recours efficaces est donc un facteur clé pour surmonter les effets du crime et pour lutter contre l’impunité. SOURCE: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:56:10 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23137 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=23137 Dans un monde effervescent et peu prévisible, la reconstruction d’une pensée stratégique appuyée sur un outil souple de décèlement précoce est désormais cruciale. Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, le terrorisme et le crime organisé ont connu une mutation, une mondialisation, et des hybridations telles qu’ils débordent largement du cadre statique et rétrospectif où ils s’étudiaient hier. Désormais irriguée par le concept de « sécurité globale », une nouvelle pensée stratégique se doit d’intégrer défense nationale, sécurité publique, protection des entreprises ou sécurité environnementale. Avec ces bouleversements en tête, le président de la République annonçait le 3 janvier 2008, lors du point d’étape sur la rédaction du livre blanc, la création d’un Conseil de sécurité et de défense nationale et d’un conseil consultatif composé de personnalités nommées par le chef de l’État. Cette décision s’inspirait notamment des propositions initiales émises par notre mission en étroite coordination avec le président de la commission du livre blanc. Cette création annoncée suscite une double urgence. D’une part, de reconstruire une pensée stratégique. D’autre part, celle de concevoir les contenus et les missions de ces nouveaux dispositifs qui visent à moderniser les structures de sécurité et de défense de la Nation. Cet ensemble permettra ensuite de : - gérer les crises non militaires ; - coordonner le renseignement préventif ; - déceler les signaux faibles et ainsi suivre au jour le jour l’évolution des dangers et menaces. Les outils proposés par ce rapport sont volontairement neutres. Ils ne définissent pas la politique déterminée par les élus de la Nation. Chacun conservant naturellement sa liberté de critique ou d’approbation hors du cadre de la mission. Voici donc les pistes de réflexion qui s’ouvrent à ce moment crucial pour la redéfinition des missions stratégiques : choisir de rester à la table des grands - donc déceler, diagnostiquer, puis prévenir ou riposter - ou devenir une simple force supplétive. Tel est le sens de ce rapport. SOURCE: Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:18:25 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=22794 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=22794 It has become commonplace to accept that security is a ‘contested concept’. How contested, however, seems to be what is at stake for critical approaches to security. With the US Congress poised to ask for a National Intelligence Estimate on the security impacts of human-induced climate change; with terrorism, people movements and disease the focus of national security policy; and with various conceptualisations of human security informing national policy and new global norms, we are well into the ‘broadening and deepening’ phase once seen as revolutionary. At the same time, state-centric discourses of security remain very powerful, and global patterns of insecurity, violence and conflict are getting more destructive and uncontrollable. In this light, this paper surveys some of the key insights and approaches in the broad area of critical security studies, especially the securitisation theme of the Copenhagen School and the emancipatory agenda of the Welsh School. It assesses their value and their limitations, and puts forward an argument for the value of a deeper line of critique that puts security’s ontological claims into question. Without breaking with the ideal of emancipation, this is also to question security’s status as a end, and to reveal it as a form of power which may conceal other agendas and produce insecurity. This line of critique is of use not only for rethinking state responses to military threats, secessionism, terrorism and people movements; it has value for retaining critical perspective in a time of such apparent innovation. SOURCE: Australian National University // Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Australian National University // Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:59:00 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21747 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21747 This article shows how human security has functioned as both a paradigm-shifting and a bridging concept, with its most significant implications being, first, the shift from a focus on state security to one on human rights, and, second, the indivisibility of physical and material security. The article will argue that, despite attempts at narrowing and appropriation, human security has lost neither its radical edge nor its holistic character; however, the bulk of the literature on the subject is theoretical, and there has not been a serious enough effort to operationalize the term so as to enable a real shift in policymaking. The second half of the article is an attempt to operationalize human security while respecting its paradigm-shifting and holistic character. It discusses necessary connections with wider policy shifts before outlining ways in which current intelligence, development, military and `state-building' practices would have to be transformed to serve human security. Finally, a sketch is drawn of the ideal `human security worker' of the future and the contexts in which she might work. SOURCE: Security Dialogue Security Dialogue Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:27:59 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=651 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=651 Human security is deliberately protective. It recognizes that people and communities are fatally threatened by events well beyond their control: a financial crisis, a violent conflict, AIDS, a national policy that undercuts public and private investments in health care, a terrorist attack, water shortages, chronic destitution, or pollution in a distant land. Many threats are far more destructive if they come as a surprise. The damage and deaths of an earthquake can be minimized by producing earthquake resistant buildings; the impoverishing effects of a financial crisis can be mitigated if counter-measures are put in place in advance; early warning systems can reduce the effect of famine. Yet many of these preparations require threats to be acknowledged, before they occur (or at the very least, as they occur). SOURCE: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:30:25 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21243 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21243 In the past five years the European Union has developed the capacity and willingness to intervene in difficult and dangerous locations, to deal with crises, to improve the chances of people to lead peaceful lives and to contribute to regional and international security. This Report is about how the EU has built this global security role so far, and where it should go next. The Barcelona Report of 2004 declared that the most appropriate approach for Europe in the twenty-first century would be to promote human security. This Report spells out what a European Human Security approach means, and addresses the criticisms levelled at it. It looks at five cases where the EU has intervened to deal with political violence and to rebuild societies torn apart by civil war, and shows how a Human Security approach is relevant to those operations. The Report concludes that in the wake of the Reform Treaty and the ‘Global War on Terror’ the EU should now define a distinctive European Way of Security, based on Human Security principles, which would enable it to intervene more effectively in crises, and take forward its foreign and security policies in a way which commands the support of its citizens and addresses the needs of vulnerable communities. Human Security should provide a new operating framework for European Union external action. SOURCE: Human Security Study Group // Centre for the Study of Global Governance Human Security Study Group // Centre for the Study of Global Governance Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:39:45 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21093 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21093 This paper argues that the migration of children is a serious human security concern and needs attention. The link between migration and human security is a bitter sweet mixture of cause and remedy rolled into one. The inclusion of children into this discussion takes one to the apex of a debate on vulnerability and long term human insecurity. Thus far, there has been very little focus in the region about the effects of child migration, particularly on the subjects of poverty and human development. SOURCE: Southern African Regional Poverty Network Southern African Regional Poverty Network Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:33:34 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21091 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21091 Human security, poverty and conflict resolutions have become a new concern for the world and figures prominently on the agenda of many world forums, international institutions, states and civil society organizations For the coming years, the challenges for most of the world independent nations will be to ensure the overall human security and livelihoods of their people, as well as the respect of their basic human rights and to protect them from the threat of diseases, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression, and environmental hazards, while sustaining the traditional state security and sovereignty. SOURCE: Southern African Regional Poverty Network Southern African Regional Poverty Network Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:11:44 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21090 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21090 This paper argues that the prevalence of a participatory democracy contributes to people-centred policy formulations that reduce the potential for violence while at the same time meaningful public participation in policy formulation and implementation contributes directly to human security. SOURCE: Southern African Regional Poverty Network // Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation Southern African Regional Poverty Network // Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:07:53 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21089 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21089 The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the value of the security community approach in analysing developments in the Southern African region. Prior to engaging in the discourse of the security paradigm in the Southern African region, the paper provides a general profile of the contributions to the debates on the approach. It then addresses in a direct manner the locus of human security in the debate of security community in the region in an approach that has been argued to be essentially statecentric. The paper then gives a more detailed conceptual discussion in respect to the southern African region. The subsequent coverage will be the approach’s applicability to the region. SOURCE: Southern African Regional Poverty Network // Institute for Security Studies Southern African Regional Poverty Network // Institute for Security Studies Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:04:09 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21088 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21088 The concept of human security has been put on the official international agenda just over a decade ago in 1994. At that time, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) proposed a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of security, and asked for a shift away from the hitherto state-centric nature of security, to a human security paradigm. Such a paradigm should deal with uninhibited population growth; disparities in economic opportunities; excessive international migration; environmental degradation; drug production and trafficking; and international terrorism. For the UNDP, security had to be universalized, and the security made indivisible. SOURCE: Southern African Regional Poverty Network Southern African Regional Poverty Network Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:00:31 -0800 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21087 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=21087 Efforts are expanding and multiplying to ‘make poverty history’ but without acknowledging and understanding the history of poverty and the very roots of the problem as well as the way in which the world economic system is organized to the advantage of the superpowers, poverty will persist and human security increasingly threatened. This does not mean that globalisation is equivalent to a ‘powerless state’ and that there is no room for manoeuvre. Internal governance is at the core of all development efforts. The state should work towards the democratization of development. This paper points to the importance of developmental states as well as the urgency of opening up markets to the developing world. SOURCE: Southern African Regional Poverty Network Southern African Regional Poverty Network Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:08:14 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=1749 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=1749 The aim of this paper is to define the outlines of a specific category of threats to peace, which could be named threats to human security. This category emerges as the result of the intersection between the principle of the responsibility to protect and the concept of human security, both included in the World Summit Outcome Document. However, it can only be considered as the expression of a new will on the part of States insofar as they, together with the relevant international organisations, create instruments of international action which are meant to confront situations where the existence of such a threat is identified. Also, the responsibility for identifying threats to human security should not rest exclusively and discretionarily with the Security Council. The World Summit has not resolved the major legal and practical problem that arises in the case of block-voting on the Security Council. If the Council is responsible for protecting populations when the State is unwilling or unable to do so, what happens when the Council is unwilling to act or lacks the necessary capacity to take on the responsibility for protecting these populations? The proposal put forth here resolves this question by substituting the traditional legitimacy of armed intervention based on humanitarian ends for a legitimacy based on the adequacy of the international means of action. From this point of view, it is essential that States and the Security Council act congruently regarding the commitments they take on and instil greater effectiveness in the consensus that has formally been achieved in the Summit. SOURCE: Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:29 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20858 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20858 On the basis of recent conceptual developments in the field of conflict studies and significant changes in current policy practice in the field of xe2x80x98peace & conflict', the paper puts the risks emanating from armament and especially weapons of mass destruction into a larger framework of human security and human development. It argues that contemporary security and conflict analysis especially tends to emphasize the importance of non-military factors and processes in causing and escalating lethal conflict. The paper explores the implications of these observations for the Pugwash agenda and it presents a proposal how to do justice to the fundamental questions arising from these recent developments in the framework of Pugwash's agenda and interests. SOURCE: 55th Pugwash Conferece, Hiroshima, Japan 55th Pugwash Conferece, Hiroshima, Japan Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:29 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20859 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20859 Bibliography on international human security issues, security with international organizations, state security vs human security, human security in Iraq, environmental security as a theoretical concept, climate change as a security threat, and energy security SOURCE: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:24 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20713 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20713 The Human Security Brief 2006 updates the 2005 Human Security Report's conflict trend data and analyzes the findings of two recently released datasets that track trends in war terminations and organized violence against civilians. The new data indicate that the post-Cold War decline in armed conflicts and related fatalities reported last year has continued, with Sub-Saharan Africa seeing the greatest decrease in political violence. Other encouraging trends include continuing declines in the number of genocides and other mass slaughters of civilians, and a drop in refugee numbers and military coups. But some of the other findings are far from positive. Four of the world's six regions have experienced increased numbers of conflicts since 2002, the last five years have seen a huge spike in the estimated death toll from terrorism, while negotiated settlements, which are responsible for an increasing proportion of conflict terminations, have worryingly high failure rates. SOURCE: Human Security Report Project Human Security Report Project Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:18 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20616 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20616 Contributions to BICC's Ten-year Anniversary Conference. Introduction and Summary: Opening Panel: 10 Years of BICCxe2x80x94The Past and the Future: * 10 Years of BICCxe2x80x94The Past and the Future, Hartmut Krebs; * 10 Years of Conversionxe2x80x94 The Main Achievements, Michael Brzoska; * 10 Years of BICCxe2x80x94A Critical View from the Outside, Klemens van de Sand; * The Future of BICC, Peter J. Croll. Group A: The long xe2x80x98Decade of Disarmament', 1986-1999: What Remains to be Done? What Lessons can be Drawn?: * Arms Control: How to Move from the Cold War Legacy to the Needs of a Globalized World?, Alyson J. K. Bailes; * Reflections on the xe2x80x98Decade of Disarmament' 1986-1999, Edward J. Laurance; * In Defense of Conversion Studies; Ksenia Gonchar; * A Short Review of 10 Years of Redesignation of Military Installations in Brandenburg, Reinhard Weise. Group B: Human Security: More than Just a Good Idea?: * Is Human Security "More than Just a Good Idea"?, Keith Krause; * The Concept of Human Security, Andrew Mack; * The Toolbox for Security, Theodor H. Winkler; * The Need for an Integrated Security Concept, Tobias Debiel. Group C United Nations, NATO, European Union: Partners or Competitors in Conflict Prevention and Containment? * Consent and Dissent in the Recent Evolution of the Transatlantic Security Architecture, Eric Remacle; * Cooperation or Competition: Weighing the Evidence, Crister S. Garrett; * Remarks on NATO's Role in Meeting Security Challenges, Patrick Hardouin; * The EU-UN Strategic Partnership: Neither Partners nor Competitors, Patricia Chilton: Group D: Peaceful Ways out of Internal Conflicts: Can External Actors Make a Difference? * Prerequisites to Successful Peacebuilding, Corinna Hauswedell; * A Warning Against xe2x80x98Social Engineering': Every Peace Process First Needs the Involvement of the Conflict Parties, Christoph Weller; * Challenges for Development Cooperation, Cornelia Richter; * The Macedonian Conflict of 2001: External Actors and Conflict Resolution, Eben Friedman: Group E: Arms Control and Disarmament: Still Relevant in the New Century?; * Reframing Arms Control and Disarmament, Patricia Lewis; * Arms Control Achievements: A Solid Foundation, Josef Holik; * Priorities for Arms Control, Ruprecht Polenz; * A Role for the European Union, Gerrard Quille. Group F: Small Arms Control: Developing Human Resources; * Capacity-building for Small Arms Control, Sami Faltas; * Developing Human Resources in the Field of Reintegration of Former Combatants, Irma Specht; * Pakistan: The Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Issue, Zahid Hussein; * The Development of International SALW Control Regimes and Practices, Wolfgang Richter: Keynote Speeches: * Promoting Security: But How and For Whom?, Adam Daniel Rotfeld; * The Other Conversion: From Conflict to Peace, Reinhart Helmke SOURCE: Bonn International Center for Conversion Bonn International Center for Conversion Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:11 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20474 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20474 Speech delivered by Gearty to the Australian Human Rights Centre annual public lecture. SOURCE: London School of Economics // Centre for the Study of Human Rights London School of Economics // Centre for the Study of Human Rights Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:09 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20377 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20377 Popularised by institutions such as the UNDP or the UN, by the governments of so-called middle powers (Canada, Japan and Norway) and by a Nobel Prize-winning academic such as Amartya Sen, human security --concept, framework, area of study, or policy agenda-- remains poorly consensually defined or delineated. Each actor and academic professes his own definition, which leads Roland Paris to profess that "the content of human security really is in the eye of the beholder". Is this correct ? Are the varying definitions, broad and narrow, irreconcilable, or do they tend to converge into a concept that can be studied or implemented ? Defining human security necessitates answering the three central questions of any security debate: security for whom? from what/whom? and by what means (which actors and which actions) ? Through these three questions, the major debates, concerns, critiques, challenges, and consequences, as well as my personal point of view emerge. [..] Ultimately, only time will tell whether or not human security can mature into an organising framework capable of truly shifting conceptions of foreign and public policy, overcoming its criticisms and its internal debates, or whether the concept is inherently ambiguous and irreconcilable internally and on the international scene. SOURCE: Sciences Po // Center For Peace And Human Security Sciences Po // Center For Peace And Human Security Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:48:09 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20378 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20378 Since its premiere over a decade ago, the concept of "human security" has taken on a life of its own. Defined most simply, the "objective of human security is to safeguard the vital core of all human lives from critical pervasive threats, in a way that is consistent with long-term human fulfillment." Because the debates around human security - by advocates and opponents alike - have focused on practical (im)possibilities of such a framework, I argue that a moral argument for human security is necessary to justify the paradigm shift. To this end, a specific type of human rights discourse is essential for defending human security, which, like human rights, has human dignity as its primary goal. [...] Is human security too idealistic? "No, it's just visionary." Why, then, as individuals should we care about human security in other countries? Human security advocates have provided strong practical arguments for this, namely that global threats are so interconnected that the North and the South share "mutual vulnerabilities" demanding global attention and concern. But we should also consider moral reasons: we may have allowed certain threats to flourish in other parts of the world, and the pursuit of human security is an extension of human rights and human dignity, morally compelling agendas in themselves. The human security framework is a valuable tool and moral goal that can transform human rights, and human dignity, from visionary to reality. SOURCE: Sciences Po // Center For Peace And Human Security Sciences Po // Center For Peace And Human Security Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:45 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20047 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=20047 Most Shan are concentrated in Burma's northeastern Shan state, but there are group members in neighboring Thailand and China. The Shan presence in the region dates back more than one thousand years and it likely predates the arrival of the Burmans, the dominant community. Group members maintained close ties with the Kachin who also reside in northern Burma. Small Shan states were ruled by a tribal/feudal structure led by Sawbwas who exercised hereditary rule. Following the third Anglo-Burman war, British colonial rule was imposed (1886-1947). The Shan have five of the six factors that increase the chances of future rebellion: current rebellion; territorial concentration; high levels of support for group organizations; widespread repression by state authorities; and a history of lost autonomy. Since the late 1980s, the military junta has negotiated ceasefire agreements with fifteen ethnic groups including the Shan State Army. At least two Shan rebel groups remain militarily active. However, given the major counterinsurgency campaign that has been underway in Shan state for the past four years, it is not clear how long these groups can survive. SOURCE: Minorities at Risk Project // Center for International Development and Conflict Management // University of Maryland Minorities at Risk Project // Center for International Development and Conflict Management // University of Maryland Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:43 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19770 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19770 SOURCE: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:43 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19771 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19771 SOURCE: Foreign Affairs Canada Foreign Affairs Canada Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:43 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19793 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19793 This paper identifies some interesting and useful applications of the Human Security Framework. In particular, the reports of Afghanistan, Latvia, Macedonia and Bangladesh are reviewed in depth, as each makes strong contributions to the conceptualization of human security within a national context. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Development Programme United Nations // United Nations Development Programme Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:34 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19612 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19612 xe2x80x98Human security' is a promising but still underdeveloped paradigmatic approach to understanding contemporary security politics. We argue that tension between those embracing the politics of development and those supporting the human security paradigm has intensified because the transnational dimensions embodied within the latter approach have been underassessed. The idea of xe2x80x98threat' also needs to be identified with more precision for the human security concept to accrue analytical credibility. We focus on how transnational behaviour addresses the central human security problems of vulnerability and immediacy. Human security's utility for confronting crisis is also evaluated via the application of two case studies of humanitarian intervention: the 1994 multinational operation in Haiti and the 1999 intervention in East Timor. We conclude that, while general security politics includes both domestic and international issues, human security allows us to transcend sovereign prerogatives and to address emerging transregional threats more effectively. SOURCE: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:34 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19613 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19613 Human security has many useful definitions and characterizations. Although these will be introduced and discussed shortly, this paper aims not to choose among them, but rather to provide a working definition of human security, and to show how it can form the basis for operational responses by many different institutions. SOURCE: Commission on Human Security Commission on Human Security Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:34 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19614 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19614 The Chinese view of security is essentially a traditional one, with an emphasis on national sovereignty and territorial integrity. At the same time, especially in the years after the end of the Cold War, Chinese views and positions on security have evolved. The scope of security has been greatly enlarged, and there are increasing concerns about system security, regime security, and people's safety, as well as the "national security" of China. However, for reasons of international politics and foreign policy, the Chinese government has not accepted and formally used the concept of human security, although the government has worked hard to address some of the human security problems inside and outside China. SOURCE: University of British Columbia University of British Columbia Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:27 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19449 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19449 Since the end of the Cold War, security for the majority of states has increased, while security for many of the world's people has declined. The end of the superpower confrontation has meant greater security for states touched by that rivalry. Yet during this decade we have seen new civil conflicts, large-scale atrocities, and even genocide. Globalization has brought many benefits, but it has also meant a rise in violent crime, drug trade, terrorism, disease and environmental deterioration. It clearly does not follow that when states are secure, people are secure. SOURCE: Foreign Affairs Canada Foreign Affairs Canada Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:20 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19347 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19347 Europe has never been so prosperous, so secure nor so free. The violence of the first half of the 20th Century has given way to a period of peace and stability unprecedented in European history. The creation of the European Union has been central to this development. It has transformed the relations between our states, and the lives of our citizens. European countries are committed to dealing peacefully with disputes and to co-operating through common institutions. Over this period, the progressive spread of the rule of law and democracy has seen authoritarian regimes change into secure, stable and dynamic democracies. Successive enlargements are making a reality of the vision of a united and peaceful continent. SOURCE: European Union European Union Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:20 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19381 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19381 SOURCE: Center for Women's Global Leadership // Rutgers University Center for Women's Global Leadership // Rutgers University Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:13 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19200 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19200 The last decade of the twentieth century witnessed a profound change in the nature of conflict around the world. Observers celebrated the declining number of inter-state conflicts, just as a proliferation of complicated intra-state disputes, conflicts and emergencies began to take hold. These situations have presented an alt#ogether different class of crisis, and in case after case the international community has been unable to recognize, forestall or even mitigate the effects of a rapid collapse in human security. In this paper we revisit the idea of human security. We argue that a narrow focus on material resources has prevented analysts from identifying the true sources of vulnerability or resilience in a population, and we set out a conceptual approach which pays due attention to the psychological and social bases of community stability. In other words, we aim to engage the recurring question of what makes conflict more likely in one place rather than another by exploring the underlying conditions or factors that support constructive coping mechanisms in the face of threats or hazards. SOURCE: Complex Emergency Reponse and Transition Initiative // United States Agency for International Development Complex Emergency Reponse and Transition Initiative // United States Agency for International Development Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:12 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19131 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19131 Europe's security arrangements are undergoing a process of profound change. This change is usually associated with the end of the Cold War and the consequent transformation of Europe's security environment. However, the transformation has been limited neither to the geo-political realm nor to the European continent, but comprises also a global conceptual shift in respect of what constitutes "security." SOURCE: Centre for the Study of Global Governance Centre for the Study of Global Governance Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:12 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19140 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19140 Human security goes beyond concerns about the security of nation-states and their borders to encompass interrelated issues such as disease, environmental degradation, transnational terrorism, and population movements that give rise to insecurity in peoples' lives and ultimately threaten socioeconomic development, political stability, and the security of nation-states. Since the late 1990s, JCIE has been actively exploring the potential of human security as a new policy framework and has sought ways to translate the concept into concrete action. SOURCE: Japan Center for International Exchange Japan Center for International Exchange Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:04 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19046 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19046 SOURCE: African Human Security Initiative African Human Security Initiative Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:04 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19051 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=19051 Launched at the United Nations (UN) in New York on October 17, the Human Security Report 2005 documents a dramatic, but largely unknown, decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights violations over the past decade. The Report argues that the single most compelling explanation for these changes is found in the unprecedented upsurge of international activism, spearheaded by the UN, which took place in the wake of the Cold War. Professor Andrew Mack is Director of the Human Security Centre at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia. He was Director of the Strategic Planning Unit in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan 1998-2001. He has held research and teaching posts at world-class institutions all over the globe, and his career has included periods as a pilot in the UK's Royal Air Force, as a meteorologist in Antarctica, as a diamond prospector in Sierra Leone and as a journalist with the BBC. SOURCE: University of British Columbia University of British Columbia Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:03 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18914 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18914 Every state bears a responsibility to protect every person on its territory. But the responsibility to protect extends globally. Where a government fails to meet its responsibility in its own country, others must act to protect the rights and safety of people.To promote human security requires concentration of policy and action on two concepts: people at risk, and democratic empowerment. The people at highest risk from human security threats are usually the least powerful members of any societyxe2x80x94the poor, marginalized and excluded. Democratic empowerment reduces human security risks, and makes everyone safer.To illustrate the urgency of human security reformsxe2x80x94and demonstrate the opportunitiesxe2x80x94the Human Security Track recommends reforms in five priority catogories: health and security, violence against women, children in armed conflict, human trafficking, and small arms. SOURCE: Crisis Management Initiative Crisis Management Initiative Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:47:03 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18958 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18958 Resolving intractable conflicts, especially those involving non-state actors, has become an even more urgent task since the September 11th attacks and subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, strategies which simply try to hit back at the xe2x80x98enemy', the xe2x80x98terrorists' or political opponents using arms are counterproductive. They increase, rather than decrease, both the level of violence and the yawning chasm between the two sides. This pamphlet argues that such strategies will never be successful unless they address the full range of factors that fuel cycles of violence and influence the use of terror over time - including the emotional and psychological effects of violence and humiliation, and the economic, social and cultural contexts that sustain violence. The authors outline practical actions that have succeeded elsewhere and could be used with positive effect in Iraq, Israel-Palestine and more widely. They propose global measures to support peace processes and prevent and resolve conflict without the use of force. Hearts and Minds argues that approaches to terror, political violence and insurgency must take human security as their starting point. SOURCE: Oxford Research Group // Demos Oxford Research Group // Demos Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18651 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18651 The Andean region is currently suffering from a profound crisis with unpredictable consequences. Colombia is just the tip of an enormous iceberg of cumulative problems that have not been solved. In fact, since the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century the Andes has become the major focus of South American instability and concern. Politically, the self-imposed coup d'état of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, the constitutional fall of Carlos A. Pérez in Venezuela, the political exit of Abdalxc3xa1 Bucaram in Ecuador, the quasi debacle of Ernesto Samper in Colombia and the coming into power of former coup participant Hugo Banzer in Bolivia, stand out. The social disaster that led to the de facto overthrow of Jamil Mahuad in Ecuador, the authoritarian ambition of kleptocracy established by Fujimori in Peru, the delicate institutional uncertainty generated by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the growing problems of all kinds in Bolivia and the explosive situation faced by Andrés Pastrana in Colombia are eloquent indicators that the Andes is in the midst of a storm. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18652 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18652 This paper is a reflection on the conditions of poverty being experienced by Bolivian society, as well as on the factors that prevent progress from being made in solving this structural and historical problem. It also analyses the modest results achieved in this regard at a time when democracy is being consolidated and the state is being modernized, although still in an insufficient and much questioned manner. One of its most important conclusions is the lack of a state policy to cope integrally with poverty, as well as the absence of a social pact that asserts the legitimacy of the state in mounting its strategies. Even though poverty may be a necessary condition for stimulating a climate of violence, insecurity and conflict, it is no less true that other important factors must be taken into account, such as, for example, unresolved historical and socio-economic patterns, the quality of democratic governance and its effects on public opinion, as well as those external variables which a precarious, unintegrated, uncompetitive national economy with an enormous deficit in modern technology has difficulty in controlling. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18653 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18653 This paper evaluates the crisis in Chiapas, Mexico, from the point of view of a very long process of social and political crisis, which culminated in the disruption of the fabric of society and pre-existing cohesion among communities. This disruption of social cohesion has had a severe political impact and has transcended regional borders to become a national crisis. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18654 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18654 The sense of insecurity, understood as being citizens' perception of their personal situation, or the situation of their town or country in relation to crime, is an important component of citizen security. Based on surveys carried out to attempt to measure this sense of insecurity, Central American citizens in general consider their situation and the situation of their countries to be insecure. Considering the complexity involved in evaluating the genesis of criminality and the fact that there has been little research on this issue in Central America, it would be pretentious to categorically establish a direct relationship between certain factors and the increase in crime in the region. A series of factors, however, tends repeatedly to be associated with some of the violent ways in which the criminal problem is manifested in those countries. These factors include the deterioration of the socio-economic conditions of the population, the after-effects of armed conflicts, the growing presence of organized crime and certain patterns of behaviour associated with the use of psychoactive substances, especially alcohol. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18655 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18655 Under the current international circumstances, the beginning of a debate is appropriate to tackle the issues and needs of human security, peace and prevention of conflicts from the point of view of moving towards the solution of the tensions existing between global security, as defined in essentially military terms, and human security, understood as a condition and consequence of human development. The war against Afghanistan has harshly underlined the impact of using weapons of great destructive power against communities and populations living in conditions of extreme poverty. Combat aircraft drop bombs as well as foodstuff for people trapped between the extreme fundamentalism of the local authorities and that of military action which is seeking a diffuse rather than a localized target. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18656 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18656 Violence is a particularly relevant subject for analysing factors affecting people's security. In order to work properly, every social system requires the production of reciprocal certainties, securities, acknowledgements and expectations that are met to a reasonable degree. The lack of these certainties threatens social stability and people's psychological well-being. Social change creates new factors of insecurity or diminishes the importance of old ones. Transition from a rural society to an urban one, and from an economy with high levels of intervention by the state to a free market one, are two examples of changes that modify areas of certainty, causing some to disappear while creating new ones. At the same time, these social changes cause existing security mechanisms to be modified; in other words, they modify policies and measures aimed at dealing with factors that cause insecurity. This paper evaluates the changes experienced since 1930 as a result of a perception of insecurity based on crime and political violence in Chile. It refers, therefore, to expressions of interpersonal and inter- group violence. SOURCE: United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales United Nations // United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization // Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:46:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18659 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=18659 Much has been said and written about the concept of human security. Yet, the value of human security as an idea has now gone beyond its intrinsic nature. Indeed, if human security is to be realized, it is now a road that must be traveledxe2x80x94a process that has to take place, as well as a destination to be reached. The deliberation and discussions at the Fourth Intellectual Dialogue on Building Asia's Tomorrow point to the propitious timing of moving human security beyond discourse to concrete actions. The Fourth Intellectual Dialogue has called on the international community to act now without delay. And there is no better place to begin to pu#sh this agenda forward than in the Asia Pacific region. SOURCE: Japan Center for International Exchange Japan Center for International Exchange