Commission on Human Security

Recently, the United Nations has been promoting a human security agenda. On January 1, 2001, in response to the outcome of the United Nations Millennium Summit, the government of Japan initiated the formation of an independent Commission on Human Security (the "Commission"). The over-arching mission of the Commission is to secure “freedom from fear” and “freedom from want.”

On May 1, 2003, Mrs. Sadako Ogata, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Professor Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate in economic science, presented the report of the Commission to the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The Commission’s report is titled “Human Security Now: Protecting and Empowering People.”

The report proposes a new security framework that centers directly and specifically on people. The Commission concentrates on a number of distinct but interrelated issues concerning conflict and poverty, including protecting people in conflict and post-conflict situations, shielding people forced to move, overcoming economic insecurities, guaranteeing essential health care, and ensuring universal education. In its report, the Commission formulates recommendations and follow-up activities.

In the Commission’s opinion, although the state remains the primary source of security, it often fails to fulfill its security obligations and, at times, has even become a source of threat to its own people. In the Commission’s view, human security complements state security by enhancing human rights and strengthening human development. By enhancing human rights, human security seeks to protect people against a broad range of threats to individuals and communities. By strengthening human development, human security seeks to empower them to act on their own behalf.

The Commission’s findings and recommendations regarding the pursuit and realization of human security raise important questions regarding the interplay between global governance and state sovereignty. To the extent that multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations perceive that a state is not adequately meeting the human security needs of its citizens, what powers should they have to intervene in the situation?

In recent years, officials from the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have become more focused on the human rights and development agendas of their client states. However, their efforts have been limited to improving the capacity of their client states to improve the lives of their citizens. By articulating an all-encompassing right to human security that focuses exclusively on the protection and empowerment of individuals and does not rely exclusively on the state for solutions, the Commission opens the door to a model of global governance that reserves the right to ignore state sovereignty.

In the opinion of the Commission, human security encompasses all human rights, including civil and political rights, which protect people, and economic, social and cultural rights, which empower people. Protection strategies, set up by states, international agencies, NGOs and the private sector, shield people from menace. Empowerment strategies enable people to develop their resilience to difficult conditions. According to the Commission, both strategies are required in nearly all situations of human insecurity, though their form and balance will vary tremendously.

In May 2004, the United Nations established the Human Security Unit (HSU) within the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The overall objective of the HSU is to place human security in the mainstream of UN activities. The HSU is also responsible for managing the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS), which was initially funded by Japan. For the most part, the UNTFHS provides emergency relief and development assistance grants in war-torn or post-conflict areas.

While the UNTFHS provides short-term human security through financial aid in emergency situations, the HSU attempts to promote long-term human security solutions through activities within the United Nations system. UNESCO is at the forefront of these HSU efforts.

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