Human Security--Protecting and Empowering the People (Global Insights‪)‬

Human insecurity dominates today's headlines: the ongoing conflicts in Palestine and Cote d'Ivoire; international terrorism and criminal networks; the HIV/AIDS pandemic; growing economic inequalities; and the apparent diminishing relevance of multilateralism. Perhaps the starkest example of the tension between the rhetorical commitment to human security and the imperatives of state security is military action in Iraq. Is it possible during this time of escalating tensions and international animosities to wholeheartedly embrace a fundamental reorientation in our thinking about security? Over the last decade, the debate about broadening the conceptualization of security has been ongoing at the United Nations (1) and among many governments, prominent individuals, international commissions, (2) scholars, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). (3) In 2000, some 180 states endorsed the Millennium Declaration's goal of attaining "freedom from fear" and "freedom from want" for all people, capturing the normative shift in the security discourse. How can this commitment and these ideals be brought to bear on the severe and multiple crises affecting people in the twenty-first century? One answer comes from the Commission on Human Security in its publication of Human Security Now in May 2003. (4)