More than 150 years' ago, Henry David Thoreau wrote: “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.”
But it wasn't until about a decade ago, that this principle emerged as a challenge to nation-states' traditional post-cold war notions of national security.
“Human security” operates at the intersection of international relations, human rights and foreign policy, and argues that in a globalised world, the way to achieve international stability is for states to focus on the individual's need for quality of life, regardless of their nationality.
The concept suggests basic human problems like freedom from fear and want cannot be solved by force, and cannot be limited by borders - for example, drone strikes won't stop global warming, and patrol boats won't halt political or environmental refugees.
WHY HUMAN SECURITY MATTERS
A new book co-authored by Professor Robyn Eckersley of Melbourne University's School of Social and Political Sciences argues that Australian foreign policy needs to embrace human security if that nation wants to stand on the global stage.
It's a topical thought as we bid for a spot on the UN Security Council.
“Australia is the most vulnerable country to climate change in the OECD, and we are in a region where our neighbours are extremely vulnerable,” she said.
“The beauty of human security is that it's trans-ideological. It travels well, it enables Australia to connect to its Asia-Pacific neighbours in a way where we've got common concerns,”
“[It] builds up co-operative arrangements to head them off at the pass, rather than allowing them to accumulate and suddenly we've got a 'fortress Australia' mentality again,”
Economic security — Assured basic income from productive work. Unemployment problems constitute an important factor underlying political tensions and ethnic violence
Food security — The overall availability of food is not a problem, rather the problem often is the poor distribution of food and a lack of purchasing power.
Health security —Threats are usually greater for the poor in rural areas, particularly children, due to malnutrition, insufficient health services, and access to clean water.
Environmental security — Aims to protect people from the short- and long-term ravages of nature, man-made threats in nature, and deterioration of the natural environment.
Personal security — For many, the greatest source of anxiety is crime, particularly violent crime.
Community security — Community security aims to protect people from the loss of traditional relationships and values and from sectarian, ethnic or minority violence.
Political security — According to a survey conducted by Amnesty International, political repression, systematic torture, ill-treatment or disappearance was still practised in 110 countries.
NO ISLAND IS AN ISLAND
But how should states be encouraged to respect the human security issues relevant to the citizens of other countries?
“No island is an island, including a large one like Australia. Interdependence is the key word here,” Professor Eckersley said.
“The old idea of defending the coastline of your country is not going to stop invading oceans, or invading mosquitoes carrying dengue fever or malaria,
“It's not going to stop large people movements no matter how much you try to patrol our huge coastline,' she said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited Julia Gillard to co-chair the Millennium Goal Advocacy Group.
Those who advocate a human security approach say that this is the ideal platform to tie together Australia's human security policies into a broader approach.
The UN Security Council will vote on Australia's non-permanent membership on October 18.
UN HUMAN DEVELOPEMNT INDEX
Countries coloured green exhibit high human development, those coloured yellow/orange exhibit medium human development, and those coloured red exhibit low human development.
0.950 and over 0.900–0.949 0.850–0.899 0.800–0.849 0.750–0.799 0.700–0.749 0.650– 0.699 0.600–0.649 0.550–0.599 0.500–0.549 0.450–0.499 0.400–0.449 0.350–0.399 under 0.350 Data unavailable
