Human beings instinctively understand that security means safety and protection from all types of threats to our daily lives such as hunger, disease, war and repression. When the United Nations Charter was adopted in 1945, the idea of human security was rooted primarily in the protection of states against external aggression although the freedom of the individual in the state was seen as an essential complement to the freedom of the state in the world community of nations.
Despite the improving security of states, people in many of those states feel more insecure than ever. Because of that, the definition of what constitutes human security is changing. Human security is now increasingly interpreted as security of people in their homes, in their jobs, in their communities and in their environment, which must be regarded as universal, global and indivisible.
A team of experts in humanitarian assistance and development appointed by the United Nations issued a report in 2003 entitled, Human security now: protecting and empowering people. The report stressed that human security should be viewed as a comprehensive and complex matter that requires a holistic approach. The concept combines human protection and human development stressing the linkages among peace, security and sustainable development. The report added that human security should be considered not only at the state or macro level but also at the community and individual levels.
At the international level, the distinctive feature of the new emerging order should stress and assign the highest priority to human beings and place them at the center of international activity.
At the 2005 World Summit in
The Security Council meeting during the 2005 World Summit adopted a resolution on conflict prevention. The resolution recognized some aspects of the human security by stating, inter alia, that peace, security and development are mutually reinforcing and require a broad strategy to address the root causes of armed conflict and political and social crises in a comprehensive manner including by promoting sustainable development, democracy, gender equality, the rule of law and respect for and protection of human rights.
It is now recognized that the battle for peace and security will be fought on two fronts – the security front where victory spells freedom from fear and the economic and social front where victory means freedom from want.
History has taught us that wars produce poverty and hunger and while poverty and hunger rule, peace and security cannot prevail. Every gun, every warship and every rocket produced represent theft from those who are not adequately fed, clothed and housed. Only freedom from both fear and want can assure the world of an enduring peace and security. Therefore the world needs to balance better lives for its people and better weapons for its countries.
Implementing the new concept of human security requires that individuals from all walks of life including cultural, religious and ethnic groups must be protected and empowered.
Security of the individual is a basic human right and the protection of the individual is a fundamental obligation of governments to ensure that all the rights of their nationals are protected.
The principle of the responsibility to protect which has been recognized states that when states fail to protect their nationals because either they are unable or unwilling to do so, the international community, through the United Nations, has the responsibility to protect populations because the concept of sovereignty can no longer be used to shield government’s gross violations of the security of its people from international action. Other perceptions will have to change as well.
The world needs a new model that treats growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a means, not an end in itself. The new model should enhance human quality, protect biological diversity for present and future generations and encourage full and meaningful participation of people in all activities that affect their lives.
The new model should also consider the character and distribution of economic growth. To address poverty and its offshoots of hunger, disease and ignorance requires the kind of economic growth that determines who participates and who derives the benefits. The long held view that economic growth would automatically trickle down and improve lives of everyone has not materialized. Therefore the quality of economic growth should be more important than its quantity.
The heart of the concept of sustainable human development is equity based on equal access to development opportunities. Thus, people should not be denied equal opportunity to develop their potential and use their human qualities as they see fit. Therefore patterns of growth that perpetuate inequalities should be recast for they are neither sustainable nor worth sustaining.
The new development model must be environmentally sustainable for present and future generations. The rush to increase economic growth has destroyed biological diversity, damaged and polluted soils, water and air. Ecosystems have experienced great stresses since the 1980s as developing countries struggled to increase exports to raise foreign exchange to retire external debts.
In
While the growth of GDP in
The unequal distribution of income has had adverse effects on social and environmental sectors. Over thirty percent of the population live below the poverty line, thirty percent go to bed hungry, over thirty three percent are mentally sick, forty percent of children under the age of five are under-nourished, twelve percent of infants are born underweight because their mothers are undernourished and the majority of the 80 percent of the children who drop out of primary school do so because they are hungry.
At the ecosystem level, reports including one by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have warned that if the current levels of exploitation of natural resources are not drastically reduced, 80 percent of the country will turn into a desert within 100 years – which is a rather short time.
In order to increase agricultural production for domestic consumption and export massive de-vegetation including of wetlands and de-forestation as well as overfishing has taken place on a large-scale with serious, ecological, hydrological and thermal consequences. The rainfall has become irregular in amount, timing and duration, the climate has become hotter and longer, rivers are disappearing, lakes are shrinking, water tables are dropping, spring wells are drying up, soil erosion has increased and soil quality has declined, threatening the welfare of present and future generations.
Ugandan authorities therefore need to embrace – and quickly – the new concept of human security and sustainable development or it will miss the 21st century development bus.