Human Security

What is Human Security?

"Human security is a child who did not die, a
disease that did not spread, a job that was
not cut, an ethnic tension that did not
explode in violence, a dissident who was not
silenced. Human security is not a concern
with weapons - it is a concern with human
life and integrity."
- UNDP Human Development report 1994

Seminar Question
Is human security just a long list of things that can go
wrong in everyday life? Is there more to it?

What is Human Security?

UN 2005 World Summit Outcome Document P.143 (Human Security):
We stress the right of people to live in freedom and dignity, free from poverty and despair. We
recognize that all individuals, in particular vulnerable people, are entitled to freedom from fear
and freedom from want, with an equal opportunity to enjoy all their rights and fully develop their
human potential. To this end, we commit ourselves to discussing and defining the notion of human
security in the General Assembly.

Freedom from Fear vs Freedom from Want

- Freedom from Fear threat or use of violence
- Freedom from Want ensuring basic human needs in economic, health, food,
social and environmental terms
Source: General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/1, 2005 World Summit Outcome.

Freedom from Want

Millennium Development Goals

Source: 2015 UN Millenium Development

Millennium Development Goals

Issue

Goal

Result (2015)

Extreme poverty

Halve proportion under

$1.25/day

50% -> 14%

Primary education

Universal primary education

83% -> 91%

Gender Equality

Eliminate Gender Disparity in

schools

Done (103G:100B)

Child Mortality

reduce under-5 mortality rate by 12.7m -> 6m

2/3

Maternal morbidity

reduce maternal mortality by

3/4

45% decline

HIV/AIDS, Malaria

Reverse Spread

40% spread reduction

0.8m > 13.6m ART

Environmental sustainability

improve slums for 100m

39.4% reduction

Global Partnership for

development

focus on poorest states.

66% increase in aid

($135.2bn)

Source: 2015 UN Millenium Development

Goals Report

Freedom from Want - Criticism

If everything that causes a reduction in human wellbeing is labelled a security threat, the term loses any
analytical usefulness and becomes a loose synonym of
bad Daniel H. Deudney
Public Policy Challenge or Security Threat?

Freedom from Fear

The fourth is freedom from fear, which,
translated into world terms, means a
worldwide reduction of armaments to such a
point and in such a thorough fashion that no
nation will be in a position to commit an act
of physical aggression against any neighbor
anywhere in the world.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union Address, Jan 6
1941.

Thinking Points
Does securitisation necessarily always have positive
outcomes?
Did the achievements made under the MDG have
anything to do with securitisation policies?

Questions?
Thanks! =D

Useful Infographic