1. Running Head: HUMAN SECURITY
HUMAN SECURITY: CONCEPT, DIMENSION AND
CHALLENGES
An Article Submitted to Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Balananda Sharma
For the Partial Fulfillment of the Internal Evaluation of the
Paper CMS-503 Changing Dimensions of Security
Master's Degree in Crisis Management Studies
Submitted By:
Bhadra Bahadur Singh Thakuri
ICMS 5th
Batch
First Semester
Roll No. : 4
Tribhuwan University
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Samarpan Academy (Institute of Crisis Management Studies)
Kathmandu, Nepal
April, 2018

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Human Security: Concept, Dimensions & Challenges
Bhadra Bahadur Singh Thakuri
Samarpan Academy (Institute of Crisis
Management Studies)
Masters in Crisis Management Studies
5th
Batch, First Semester
Roll No. 4
Abstract
The concept of human security is a
paradigm shift from traditional state
dominated security to people centered
security. The alarming statistics over last
century disclosed that 30 million people
were killed in the conventional war, 7
million were killed in civil war and
another 170 million were died due to non-
military threats like poverty, epidemic,
hunger and disaster. Above worrisome
death toll figures indicate the necessity of broadening the parameters of tradition security
measures. Human security focuses on protecting people, promoting peace and sustainable
development. The ultimate goal of people-centered security is survival, wellbeing and dignity
of individual. Protecting the people must be the prime objective of any security concept since
the territory is expendable but not the human life. The scope of human security can be
summarized as freedom from fear and freedom from want. With a view to keep on some
lights on human security in simple way, this article describes the concept, development,
dimensions, criticism, and challenges of human security.
Keywords: Freedom from fear, Freedom from want, Human security, Social
protection and Sustainable development.

3. HUMAN SECURITY 3
Introduction
Human security is universal, people-centered, independent and preventive in which “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.” – UNDP (1994)
Before entering into the core issue of human security, it is relevant to discuss and
define the term security. Security is the safe and secure condition for an individual, group,
organization, institution, system, entity or phenomenon from harm or hostile acts. It is the
absence of harm or danger and presence of an essential condition, foundation, secrecy,
containment, and state of mind. Morgenthau defined security as the integrity of the national
territory and its institutions (1958). The key theme behind such belief is if the state is secured,
everything will be secured.
Now let's take some additional definition of national security at the different time
frame. Lippmann (1943) states that "a nation has security when it does not have to sacrifice
its legitimate interests to avoid war, and is able, if challenged, to maintain them by war".
Likewise (Paleri, 2008) broadens the parameters of national security mentioning “The
measurable state of the capability of a nation to overcome the multi-dimensional threats to the
apparent well-being of its people and its survival as a nation-state at any given time, by
balancing all instruments of state policy through governance, that can be indexed by
computation, empirically or otherwise, and is extendable to global security by variables
external to it." Above mentioned definitions of national security illustrate the adjustment in
the concept of security in changed context. The initial focus was on military might for the
survival of a nation-state against external aggression. Later on, the multi-dimensional threats
are taken into account which hinders the national interests.
The new term human security is getting attention since 1990 onward with the
increasing unconventional security challenges. Sources disclosed that 30 million people were
killed in the conventional war, 7 million were killed in civil war and another 170 million lost
their lives due to non-military threats like poverty, epidemic, hunger and disaster (Upreti,
Bhattarai, & Wagle, 2013). The traditional security arrangements confined to state and its
military as key actors remained unable to safeguard the entire interests and address the multi-
dimensional threats to state and her citizens. It is the paradigm shift from state-centered
orthodox approach to individual-centered approach for protection and development of the

4. HUMAN SECURITY 4
individual in society (Chari & Gupta, 2003). The main argument of the initiative is to ensure
freedom from want and freedom from fear and beyond for every person against global
insecurity. Human security is a comprehensive, people-centered multi-disciplinary, context-
specific and preventive oriented approach (Kaldor, 2013). People's security can be best
ensured in social, political, environmental and economic conditions conducive to live in free
and dignified manner. It is all about freely enjoying human rights and choices having access
to food, shelter, health, water, employment and other basic requisites.
Human security is an alternative and bottom-up approach which goes beyond the
scope of conventional security approach established since Treaty of Westphalia (1648). It
does not compromise the wellbeing of individual for the sake of territory since the land is
expendable but not the life of human. For instance Poland collapsed and changed its border in
every war but again it exists. Likewise human security threats have cross-border implications
and it requires collective efforts to address. The snow melting in Nepal Himalayas due to
large amount green house gasses emission by her neighbors similarly the massive outflow of
Nepalese people towards India's relatively poor states Uttarprasedh and Bihar created extra
burden during the past decade long armed insurgency in Nepal (Sharma, 2018).
Origin and Development
The idea of human security is the brain child of Harvard graduated former finance
minister of Pakistan Dr. Mahbub Ul Haq. He was special adviser while preparing the Human
Development Report (HDR) of United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Once the
HDR was published in 1994, the discussion on human security got momentum word wide.
The concept emerged as convergence of factors in post cold war era when the tradition
security mechanism to protect people from both violent and non-violent threat considered
insufficient. National borders remained no longer dividing lines between security and
insecurity. Evolution of international societies advocating the rights of individuals in the
presence of potential threats from the state itself also strengthened the human security
movement.
At international level, the UN played a crucial role in defining, supporting, and
sensitizing on the human security concept from an idea into practice. UNDP's HDR 1994
influenced the UN World Summit on Social Development 1995 held in Copenhagen. General
Assembly (GA) Resolution stresses the role of the member states in identifying and
addressing widespread and cross-cutting challenges to survival, livelihood, and dignity of

5. HUMAN SECURITY 5
their people. Likewise the UN social and economic council was established to further
materialize the human security.
The UN Charter, UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948 along with its associated
covenants 1996 and conventions related to crime (genocide) and rights of a special group
(women, children, and refugee) are the key legal instruments to govern human security. The
UN declared the Year of Indigenous People 1993 to highlight the existing vulnerability of the
300 million aboriginal people in almost 70 countries as they face wide spread violence
(Upreti et al., 2013). Alongside the UN, many development institutions are also committed
to human security like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The HS concept entered into the European Union agenda in the 2000s in such a
context when instruments of traditional security become ineffective to resolve the insecurity
issues. The Commission on Human Security (CHS) was created in 2001 chaired by former
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata and Nobel laureate Amartya
Sen. The aim of CHS is to promote the understanding of human security and implement it
organizing. Numbers of conferences, meetings and workshops are being organized by CHS to
intensify the commitments to human security. At present human security has entered the
policy discourse of a number of governments. Bilateral/multilateral agreements and the
intergovernmental forum are created further accelerating the human security agenda within
global governance.
Dimensions of Human Security
Human security is a multi-dimensional and comprehensive concept. It encompasses a
wide range of security issues keeping the safety and security of individual at center.
According to the UNDP's HDR (1994) there are seven categories of threats. To combat such
treats the dimensions of human security are as follows;
 Economic Security. Every individual needs an assured basic income from
remunerative and productive work by a publically financed safety net (Frerks & Goldewijk,
2007). Currently, only 1/4 of the world population is economically secure. Developing
countries are more suffered from economic insecurity. The unemployment and rampant
poverty fuels the economic tension and ethnic violence.
 Food Security. All people at all times must have both physical and economic access
to basic food. UN states that the overall availability of food is not a problem but the real

6. HUMAN SECURITY 6
problem is the poor distribution of food and lack of purchasing power (Peou, 2014). In the
past, the issue was dealt at national and global level but the impacts are not as expected. To
overcome this problem, access to assets, work, and assured income are most.
 Health Security. The aim is to guarantee a minimum protection from diseases and
unhealthy lifestyle. At present, chronic diseases related to life-style are being killers
worldwide, with almost 80 percent of deaths from chronic diseases taking place in low- and
middle-income countries (Frerks & Goldewijk, 2007). According to the United Nations, in
both developing and industrial countries, health related threats are usually greater for poor
people in rural areas, particularly children. The causes are malnutrition and insufficient clean
water, access to health services, and other basic necessities.
 Environmental Security. It is necessary to save the people from the short term and
long term natural or human-induced threats as well as deterioration of the natural
environment. In today's world, the major environment-related problems are a scarcity of clean
water resources, air pollution and global warming caused by greenhouse gases emission
(Chari & Gupta, 2003).
 Personal Security. Every individual must be protected from physical violence
perpetrated by the state, eternal states, individuals, sub-state actors or domestic abuse. The
violent crime is the greatest challenge to personal security worldwide (Kaldor, 2013).
 Community Security. At present half of the world's states are facing some identity
based inter-ethnic strife. The minority ethnic groups are being threatened in many parts of the
world. The aim of community security is to protect people in terms of their culture, traditions,
values and practices from sectarian and ethnic violence.
 Political Security. Political security concerns with people's living in a society with
the respect of basic human rights. As per the Amnesty International political repression,
systematic torture, ill-treatment and disappearance still exist in 110 countries.
The Notion of Freedom from Want, Fear and Beyond
The seven dimensions of human security agendas are broadly divided into two major
schools of thought namely Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want in HDR of UNDP
1994. Their difference between two approaches is described in succeeding paragraphs.
 Freedom from Fear. This approach of human security focuses on protecting human
beings from the threats generated by violent conflicts associated with poverty, state inabilities
and inequalities. The idea behind this approach is limiting the focus to violence is a realistic

7. HUMAN SECURITY 7
and manageable way. Emergency assistance, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding are the
tools to achieve it. The humanitarian intervention/ responsibility to protect (R2P) is a new
initiative in this regard.
 Freedom from Want. This is a holistic approach which advocates that the agenda
of human security has to be broadened including hunger, diseases and natural disaster. These
aspects are inevitable to address the root causes of threats to human beings. Considering the
fact the above threats are killing more people than the combined threats of war, genocide, and
terrorism. This approach goes beyond the idea of freedom from fear and emphasizes on the
development and security goals.
The notions of freedom from fear and want are complementary to each other. Apart
from want and fear the issue of protection has also been the debated issue afterward and made
the concept freedom from want, freedom from fear and beyond.
The Significance of Human Security
The human security notion is considered to be relatively new which emerged from the
ashes of cold war. It reflects the wake up of crucial changes in the international system in
post-cold war era. Since the very first days of its emergence, the issue of human security has
taken a prominent place in the field of security studies and has established itself as a useful
umbrella notion. The adoption of a human security is credited as a key driver behind the
campaign to ban landmines in the 1990s culminating in the Ottawa Treaty regarding
convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-
personnel mines and on their destruction (Chari & Gupta, 2003).
Human security is concerned with safeguarding and expanding people's vital
freedoms. It focuses on protecting people from critical and pervasive threats and side by side
empowering people to take charge of their own lives. It encompasses both 'top-down
approach' referring the norms, policies, and institutions essential to shield people such as the
rule of law and democratic governance and 'bottom-up' approach empowering the role of
people as actors and participants (Battersby & Siracusa, 2009).
Human security does not contradict with traditional the security, but rather
complements it. Though the states have the fundamental responsibility of providing the
security they often fail to fulfil their obligations and sometimes they are even the source of
the threat to own people. Human security tries to ensure the freedom of people from any kind

8. HUMAN SECURITY 8
of threats. It fills the gap of security lapses in traditional security. It adds an important
dimension to development thinking as Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen mentions
'development can be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy
(1999, p.3)'.
Human security is broad and inclusive approach apart from the security of persons
from violence it advocates on human rights, gender equality, poverty alleviation, sustainable
development and so on. It has been the eye opener of individuals, states and international
communities that security is the shared responsibility of all. It is promoting genuine
opportunities for people's safety, livelihood, and dignity for better and safer world.
Criticism
As the concept of human security is widely discussed as well as accepted issue
worldwide, scholars are on for and against the idea of people-oriented broad security concern.
Critics argue that the concept of Human security is vague and undermines its effectiveness.
Prominent academics like Khong (2011), Krause (2004) and Ayoob (2004) criticizes that
conceptual ambiguity of human security is the most debated point in the academic field. The
opponents argue that the concept does not have any definite boundaries, therefore anything
and everything could be considered a risk to security which makes the policy formulation
difficult. Human security which encompasses wide range of issues like climate change and
health complicates the implementation machinery for making decisions. For taking action on
the threats identified and its courses of actions remain highly contested. It is over
securitization and deviation from real security threats. The dividing line between safety and
security is blurred. It seems silent to sovereignty, territorial integrity and political
independence of the state. The overemphasis on individual freedom at the sake of state may
weaken the national security.
There is again debate among scholars regarding the scope of human security. Some
scholars argue that the concept has to be broadened encompassing military security within it
and others vice versa narrowing the concept to a valuable essence focusing on violent threats.
Some prominent critics of human security put forward their opinion strongly. Krause
remarked that the initiative of human security such as global governance and peacekeeping
are the false promise and are difficult to implement (2004). Being more critical Black blamed
human security as a tool to further vested interest and narrative than transformation (2000, p.

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13). The world solidarity and criticism of human security are moving parallel with larger
acceptance but with many challenges compromising its implementation.
Challenges to Human Security
To ensure human security to every people is an uphill task. Multi-pronged challenges
tend to prevail to it. Human security deprivations can undermine peace and stability within
and between states. Major challenges to human security which undermines the expected
outcomes are listed below;
 Climate Change and Environmental Degradation. It has profound implications
for people's livelihood. It causes environmental degradation, endangers the ecosystem and
disrupts human life support system establishing a notorious nexus between climate change
and human security (UNGA, 2004).
 Unchecked Population Growth. Currently, the world population has reached more
than 7 million. The rapid population growth is overcrowding the planet day by day resulting
enormous pressure in diminishing renewable energy resources (Frerks & Goldewijk, 2007).
 Disparities in Economic Opportunities. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and
per capita income are distributed in a large unequal manner nationally and internationally.
Large number world population who are wealth deprived has a low life expectancy and is
unable to satisfy basic human security standard.
 Excessive Migration and Refugees. At the time of HDR publication, the figure of
international migration was 35 million, internally displaced people (IDPs) 20 million and
refugees were 19 million (Battersby & Siracusa, 2009). The statistics are rising up at present
due to poverty, conflicts, uneven development pattern and so on.
 Civil Strife and Wars. The prolonged inter-state strife, insurgencies, civil wars and
proxy wars ongoing in many parts of the world are undermining the essence of human
security.
 Terrorism and WMD. The act of violence to terrorize the target has
increasingly been the tactics of non-state actors. Such inhuman acts are almost taking place in
every part of the world resulting life and property damages of innocent people (UNGA,
2004).
 Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime. The narcotic drugs traffic has been the
serious challenge to human security. The illegal trade has transaction equal to thousands of

10. HUMAN SECURITY 10
billion dollars per annum. The illegal cash flow evading the tax and multi-faceted negative
impacts of drug consumptions in the societies are unbearable.
The widely accepted paradigm of human security is not a remedy for all security
challenges itself. Criticism exists blaming it as an ambiguous concept and a false promise
lacking effective implementation. Many constraints are obstructing to materialize the spirit of
human security. The identified human security challenges like poverty, hunger, public health
issues, conflicts etc are standing still even further worsening till the date.
Conclusion
Human security is the holistic approach which brings together the elements of
security, rights, and development. The security and welfare of each individual is the center of
gravity to create peaceful, stable and prosperous world community. As the problems are the
genesis of every solution, the security challenges faced by the world in post-cold war period
and the inability of tradition security mechanism to combat such threats gave the birth of
human security concept. It believes that the first line of defence against human security
challenges is the sustainable development.
It is the paradigm shift from traditional state-centered security towards individual-
centered security. It imagines the individual and a society free from fear and wants to develop
their potentialities in conducive environment. It is the shared responsibility of multi-
stakeholder like International Organization (UN), nation-states, I/NGOs and every individual.
Despite multiple challenges, the hope remains that the collective efforts from all side will
help to materialize the essence of human security.

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