Advancing concept of 'Human
Security' for peace and stability in Nepal
Bishnu Raj Upreti[1]
Human security in this note is defined as the
interrelated components of ecosystem and climate
security, water and energy security, food and health security, environmental security, nuclear and biological security, individual security, societal security and national security.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2006
had ended the decade long armed conflict and paved the path to the Constituent
Assembly and the new Constitution (2015) in Nepal. It has not only envisioned
the fundamental restructuring of the state including judiciary, legislative and
executive, security, and bureaucracy but also emphasized human security as conceptual basis for achieving peace and stability
in the country.
The
concept of human security was evolved overtime since the mid1990s and it was continuously
broadened the understanding in the changing political, social, economic,
cultural and environmental contexts. The concept of human security was formally
introduced by Special Advisor to UNDP Dr. Mahbub ul Haq in Human Development Report
in 1994 (UNDP 1994) even if the elements of human security were in public
debate before this report.
Gradually
human security concept is becoming popular and getting attention. In this
context, the UN had created separate Human Security Commission (HSC) to promote
human security approach (CHS 2003). Further, an international network was
established by ‘like-minded states’ in 1999 and organized series of ministerial
meetings to promote human security.
Even though human security concept was already
introduced in 1994, Nepal is still struggling to understand, internalize and
integrate into the country's development policies, planning and orientation. In
this context, we need to expand understanding of human security as an interconnected,
complementary and holistic way. The following figure shows the overlapping and complementary components of the human security.
However, majority of the
policy makers, decision
makers and influential actors are yet to internalize the importance of and interrelationship between different components of security
Source: Designed by Bishnu Raj Upreti
It is crucially
important to incorporate the concept of human security in national policies and
plans. Nepal needs to learn from the countries like Canada, Norway, Japan and
few others who were promoting the concept of ‘freedom from fear’ and ‘freedom
from want’. Likewise, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Australia, Finland, the UK,
the Netherlands and Switzerland have also taken up human security issue in
their national and foreign policies.
Scholars and researchers have started highlighting
the need of expanding the human
security debate (Matthew and Upreti 2009) and emphasizing to examine inter-linkages between skewed/irrational exploitation of environmental resources like water, land, forest and armed insurgency in Nepal (Upreti 2004; Mathew and Upreti 2005), the environmental security and sustainable development (Upreti 2012a), the food and water security
(Upreti 2012b), health security
(Khatri 2012) and holistic understanding of human security (Upreti et al 2013) in
Nepal.
Nepal needs to go beyond the originally identified 7 components of human security (economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political
security) to address the emerging threats from water insecurity, climate
insecurity and so on. Report of the Conference of the Parties in its Seventh Session held in Durban (28 Nov. to 11 Dec. 2011) clearly highlighted
that climate security is a major security
concern today for the world (Climate Change Secretariat 2011). Climate
related disasters
like flood, glacier melt, sea level
rise, prolonging drought, increasing frequency of hurricane and storms; looming
disasters; food insecurity, migration are posing greater risks and threats to Nepal
and the South Asia.
Further,
increasing civil strife, armed conflicts
and civil wars in the reason are directly and or indirectly linked with the
human insecurity and positing new challenge to achieve peace and stability. The
World Development Report 2011 entitled ‘Conflict, Security and Development’ vividly
highlighted the interrelationship between development, security and conflict.
Hence, it is a time for policy and political decision makers, academics and
researchers, development partners and practitioners, civil society and
non-governmental sector and private sector and community to work in a concerted
way to understand, internalize and apply human security concept into practice
to achieve economic prosperity, political stability and peace & harmony in
the country and contribute to regional stability in South Asia.
Reference:
CHS [Commission on Human Security]. 2003. Human Security
Now. New York: Commission on Human Security/UNOPS.
Climate Change Secretariat. 2011. Report of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting
of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol
on its seventh session, held in Durban from 28 November to 11 December 2011. Bonn: Climate
Change Secretariat.
IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change]. 2012.
Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation- Summary
for Policymakers. A
Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. Geneva:
World Meteorological Organization.
Khatri SK. 2012. Health and Human Security in Nepal and Possible
Trajectories for 2025.
In: Non-traditional Security
Challenges in Nepal (ed.) National Bureau
of Asian Research. NBR Special
Report (36). Seattle
and Washington: The National
Bureau of Asian
Research. Pp. 5-20.
Matthew R and Upreti
BR. 2009. Environmental Change and Human Security in Nepal. In: Matthew RA, Barnett J, McDonald B, P’Brien
KL, editors. Global Environmental Change and Human Security.
Arvine: MIT Press, pp137-154.
Mathew R and Upreti
BR. 2005. Nepal: Environmental Stress, Demographic Changes and the Maoists.
Environmental Change and Security Programme Report, Issue 11. Woodrow
Wilson International Centre for Scholars. Pp-29-39.
UNDP 1994. Human Development Report. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Upreti BR. 2012a.
Environmental Security and Sustainable Development (Chapter 12). In: Rita Floyd and
Richard Matthew (eds.) Environmental Security.
Upreti BR. 2012b. Water and Food Insecurity: Non-traditional Security Challenges for Nepal. In: Non-traditional Security
Challenges in Nepal (ed.) National Bureau
of Asian Research. NBR Special
Report (36). Seattle and Washington: The National Bureau
of Asian Research.
Pp. 21-34.
Upreti BR. 2004. The Price
of Neglect. Kathmandu: Bhrikuti
Academic Publications.
WB 2011. Conflict, Security
and Development. Washington DC: World Bank.
[1] Author is Executive Director of Nepal Centre for Contemporary
Research (NCCR) (www.nccr.org.np); Adjunct Professor, Faculty of
Agriculture; Agriculture and Forestry University (www.afu.edu.np); Advisory Board member: Center for
Unconventional Security Affairs - University of California, Irvine (http://www.cusa.uci.edu/people/advisory-board/) and Member, Board of Trustees,
International Foundation for Science (IFS) (http://www.ifs.se./about-ifs/ifs-board-of-trustees.html) and has written 43 books and numerous
articles in his areas of expertise (conflict, peace and human security).
