HUMAN SECURITY: A PRECONDITION FOR PEACE, DIGNITY AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Whereas the traditional conception of security has been considered as state ability to protect territorial integrity and sovereignty from external military threats, the human security gives priority to individuals, their basic needs, sustainable development and human dignity. The concept of human security, broadly defined, is presented for the first time in the 1994 in the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) affirming that human security is ‘’freedom from fear and freedom from want”. Promoters of human security do rightly argue that intra-state conflicts, terrorism, organized crime, poverty, hunger, environmental degradation and disease, due to their wide-ranging impact, do kill far more people than wars. Moreover, such chronic threats are often related to each other and undermine the human well-being. The purpose of this research paper is to argue that traditional security which is focused on priority of state activities do remains relevant and indispensable for the wider concept of state security but it is not automatically associated with security of individuals, their human rights and welfare. Therefore, a balance pursuit of state centric security and people-centric approach to security is critical for each other mutual`s reinforcement and peaceful coexistence in the current international order.