Human Security - United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Development ProgrammeHuman Development Report OfficeThis note should be read inconjunction with the Regional/National Human DevelopmentReport Toolkit.While the toolkit provides generalguidance on preparing a Regionalor National Human DevelopmentReport, this note gives specificsuggestions on how to approachthe concept of human security asa topic for such a report.Human SecurityA Thematic Guidance Note forRegional and National HumanDevelopment Report TeamsBY OSCAR A. GÓMEZ AND DES GASPERContentsWhat is Human Security?. 2Getting Started. 4Selecting objectives and themes. 4The process. 6Preparing the Report. 7General considerations. 71. Conceptualize the theme: build aconceptual framework. 72. Integration with human development. 8Many important aspects of human developmentrelate also to people’s security: loosely definedas people’s freedom from fear and freedom fromwant in a broad sense. Applying a human securityapproach offers an opportunity to analyse manyissues in an informative way. This note explains howone might go about doing that.Human security relates to much more than security from violence and crime. A report team wantingto look at the security of people’s livelihoods (economic, food, environment or health security) mightapply a human security approach. Human securitycan also be used to look into personal, communityand political security. Indeed, human developmentreports from around the world have applied theapproach in other innovative ways. But on eachoccasion, these reports have analysed a threat, orgroups of threats, and how they affect particulargroups of people.3. Data mapping. 8Potential areas of analysis.101. Comprehensive-mapping reports. 102. State-building reports. 103. Citizen security reports. 124. (Lead) Challenge-driven reports. 13Resources. 15And so if one is interested in preparing a humandevelopment report that is focused on one or more ofthe threats people face, then a human security approachis worth considering. This note explains how such anapproach could help, and how it might be applied.

What is HumanSecurity?The 1994 HDR was more specific, listingseven essential dimensions of human security:The human security approach was introducedin the 1994 global Human Development Report(HDR), which led to a range of literature andinitiatives building on the idea (some of theseare mentioned in the annex to this guidancenote), and to a series of discussions in the UnitedNations. In 2012 the General Assembly (GA)adopted a common definition of the concept.1 EconomicHealthPersonalPolitical Food Environmental CommunityThis list is neither comprehensive nor definitive, and the UN Charter refers more flexibly to‘fundamental freedoms’. National and regionalHDRs aiming to address varying categories ofthreats and values can use the human securityapproach in analyzing the topic. Previous reportsbased on the human security approach have, forexample, dealt with social exclusion, modernization and climate change; they have used exampleswhere the State has been a threat; or exploredpossible future threats. Human security is a flexible approach and can be tailored to differentcontexts and topics, according to the specificcontext. No matter which topic is addressed, aguiding principle of the human security approachis that it requires understanding the particularthreats experienced by particular groups of people, as well as the participation of those people inthe analysis process. Threats to human securitycan exist at all levels of development. They canemerge slowly and silently or appear suddenlyand dramatically.The human security approach broadens thescope of security analysis and policy from territorial security to the security of people. The 2012GA Resolution stresses the role of “MemberStates in identifying and addressing widespreadand cross-cutting challenges to survival, livelihood and dignity of their people”. In otherwords, threat(s) to – and values under threatin – people’s lives are the key starting point of ahuman security report.The 1994 HDR highlighted two major components of human security: ‘freedom from fear’and ‘freedom from want’. These freedoms,from the preamble to the Universal Declarationof Human Rights, are part of the four humanfreedoms that President Franklin D. Rooseveltfamously referred to in a speech in 1941. Hewas advocating a world founded on: freedomof speech and expression, freedom of worship,freedom from want and freedom from fear.2Subsequent debate in the 1990s added the freedom ‘to live in dignity’.Central to the approach is the idea that peoplehave ‘the right to live in freedom and dignity, freefrom poverty and despair with an equal opportunity to enjoy all their rights and fully developtheir human potential.’31UN General Assembly, 66th Session “Follow-upto paragraph 143 on human security of the 2005 WorldSummit Outcome” (A/RES/66/290), 25 October 2012.2Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s address to the UnitedStates Congress, January 6 1941, chapter 36. See book/ralprs36b.htm3UN General Assembly, 66th Session “Follow-upto paragraph 143 on human security of the 2005 WorldSummit Outcome” (A/RES/66/290). 25 October 20122

At the end of 2012, some 45 HumanDevelopment Reports in the HDRO database discussed human security in differentways. Around a third of these discuss theconcept explicitly and this guidance notedraws mainly on these latter reports. Itsynthesizes insights from these reports anddraws on their lessons for developing an R/NHDR on different threats, using the humansecurity approach. It is complemented withinsights from the wider literature on humansecurity analysis.Overall, this guidance note will guideR/NHDR teams through the report writingprocess, not least by clarifying the humansecurity concept, how it relates to humandevelopment and how it can help in structuring a report on a certain threat, such asenvironmental insecurity, food insecurity orviolence and crime. It will help report teams indeciding the approach for an R/NHDR, usingthe human security approach. The note and itsbackground material provide ample referenceto previous reports on specific subjects thatwill be helpful.Country Offices (COs) considering thehuman security approach should bear in mindtwo points at the outset: Not only reports on violence can use thehuman security approach. As we explainin the following section, there are at leastfour common types of human securityreports and COs are free to choose (andadapt) the type of approach that helpsthem the most. The concept does not only apply to fragilestates. Security, in the broad sense, is important for all societies. The human securityapproach is flexible and can be tailored todifferent countries.Human Development and Human Security:How Do They Differ?Human development and human security areinterlinked but are by no means identical. Humandevelopment is a broad concept, aiming at enlarging people’s choices and freedoms. Human security is about assuring priority freedoms so that‘people can exercise choices safely and freely’(HDR 1994, page 23) and can be confident thatthe opportunities they have are protected.Some elements of the 2012 GA resolutionshow the links between human security andhuman development and help with the conception of a human security report:“Human security calls for people-centred, comprehensive, context-specific and preventionoriented responses ”. The first three elementsare shared with human development, althoughhuman security analysis is focused on threats; thelast element implies understanding the threats inorder to implement preventive measures;“ that strengthen the protection and empowerment of all people and all communities” – humansecurity analysis considers multiple providers ofsecurity, including citizens themselves. Humansecurity analysis explores using both empowerment and protection to tackle specific threats topeople’s lives, and empowerment especially linksclosely with human development.“Human security recognizes the interlinkagesbetween peace, development and human rights,and equally considers civil, political, economic,social and cultural rights;” – thus human security forms part of the family of human concepts(including human rights, human needs, humandevelopment).“Human security is based on national ownership.”This is also a necessary standard that all NHDRsshould meet.”3

Getting StartedSELECTING OBJECTIVESAND THEMESa multi-issues report. This list offers a startingpoint for discussing the focus and theme of an R/NHDR on human security:An important initial question is whether thereport should make a comprehensive review ofthe values under threat (usually presented as alist of securities) and the specific threats; or focuson one issue of special interest. Experience showsthat both approaches are useful and have different applications.1. Comprehensive mapping reports try tocover major threats to all priority values, putthem in perspective, and offer ideas on agendas for action.2. State-building reports see state collapse/failure as the greatest threat to human security,and so focus on building a state.3. ‘Citizen Security’ reports focus on a subset ofcivil rights that is often of particular concernin the daily lives of citizens, notably physicalsafety and freedom from unlawful dispossession. Such reports could also be called citizensafety reports, but the name ‘citizen security’has become more common for this set ofconcerns.Multi-issue reports can: Map the situation of the country or region, andhelp identify an agenda for action (part of whichmay eventually become the theme for a futureHDR). Explore differences between perceived insecurities and documented threats, within andacross different groups and different issues.4. Special-focus reports, centered on key challenges other than state-building or violence andcrime, focus on some other single threatenedvalue or type of threat, e.g. food insecurity orclimate change. For ease of reference, we herecall them ‘Challenge-driven’ or, since the othertypes of report also respond to challenges, ‘Leadchallenge driven’. Provide the basis for a future in-depth exploration of priority threats. Analyse issues that may become threats in thefuture, including climate change. Promote improvement in a nation’s humansecurity related statistics.Single-issue reports can: Raise awareness and motivate action onthreats that are not yet widely recognized, butwhere evidence suggests they need to be takenseriously.There is more to the report conception stage,however, than simply deciding which of thesefour styles of report to use. The human securityapproach can be used flexibly; the many threatsoffer many options for analysis, and so the country context should be assessed very carefully foreach report. Some basic questions can help brainstorming during the report conception phase:Based on existing experience in R/NHDRs, wehave divided all reports dealing with humansecurity into four main groups. The last three aretypes of single-issue reports whereas the first is Whose security? Human security work focuseson the security of people. Particular reportsmay focus on certain target (i.e. vulnerable) Offer in-depth analysis on selected threats (orvalues under threat).4