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Can the United Nations effectivelypromote human security?

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PIED 1511 – International Politics

Word Count: 3,253

Tutor: Dr Terry Hathaway

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The effective definition of Human security is

related to traditional concepts of state security, but is more

explicit as the UNDP declared in the 1994, Human Development

Report, Human security was to be focused on food, health,

environmental, personal, community, political and economic

security (Acharya, 2011, pp.480).1 Unlike traditional security

Human security is dedicated to the individual and their

protection from possible deprivation of the 7 areas of

security as described above.2 The extent to which the United

Nations (UN) can promote Human security is very limited, as

although the UN are achieving goals of Human security and

potentially could redistribute and solve human issues around

the globe, economic, tangible and practicality issues often

limit the UN’s effectiveness in promoting Human Security, as

well as ideological and cultural differences in promoting

their policy. I will be concentrating 4 key components of

human security which the UN has decided to focus on,

including, economic security which encompasses the resource

1 Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 4802 Ibid

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and living standards of local populations around the globe is

sufficient. As well as food security, which focuses on the

abundance of food and prevention of malnourishment,

environmental security which is about the preservation and

maintenance of human environments, and finally political

security, which is the promotion of freedom of the individual

and protection from tyrannical government or violent anarchy

(Acharya, 2011, pp.480).3

Economic Security:

Economic security is particularly crucial in human

security as the economic issues in many impoverished countries

are the backbone of a variety of challenges which arise and

deprive populations of human security. Hubert argues greed and

the economic inequality of impoverished people causes and

exacerbates conflict, which is the antithesis of human

security (Hubert, 2001).4 The UN claims that simply economic

growth alone and generating wealth through Capitalism is not a

sufficient reducer of poverty, therefore is not entirely

3 Ibid4 Hubert, D (2001) Human Security and the New Diplomacy: Protecting People, Promoting Peace, (Edited by McRae, R & Hubert, D) Published by McGill’s-Queen University Press, Quebec, pp. 178

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effective in promoting human security.5 The Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are a prime advocate of economic

security for individuals and local populations around the

globe, and advocate several other concerns associated with

impoverishment such as HIV/AIDS and malnourishment.6 The UNDP

are one of the driving forces behind MDG advocacy, attempting

to bring inclusive economic gains to isolated, impoverished

areas to promote human security. In Cambodia for example,

gender empowerment and the implementation of entrepreneurship

for Women through training programmes is one of the many

initiatives set up by the UN to create economic security.7 In

the occupied Palestinian territories the UNDP created 12,000

permanent jobs and helped 66,000 families alleviate out of

poverty.8 Initiatives and empowering schemes such as this are

clear examples of effective promotion of economic stability

for thousands of people living in the arguably worst

5 United Nations Development Programme (2013) UNDP Official Site, Our Work: Poverty Reduction, available at < http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html > [Accessed 07/11/2013]6 Ibid7 UNDP Fast Facts (January 2013) Poverty Reduction and UNDP [PDF], New York, available at < http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/fast-facts/english/FF-Poverty-Reduction.pdf > [Accessed on 07/11/2013]8 Ibid

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conditions imagined, and effective promotion of human security

in these cases.

Conversely, the UN has caused controversy and

civil unrest when trying to promote economic growth to lower

income states like Bolivia, which was not only defective in

promoting human security but lost public faith in providing

human security for the population. UN sister groups such as

the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund) have

tried to implement economic opportunity and growth in Bolivia

through privatisation of resources. Bolivia’s economy was

dominated by nationalised industry of oil and water works, in

order to receive a $25,000,000 loan from the World Bank,

privatisation was demanded by the World Bank.9 Privatisation of

these resources led to the doubling of water prices, which

meant water was more expensive than food, hence the riots and

protesting against the privatisation scheme.10 When the UN is

supposed to be promoting human and economic security,

antithetically, the UN organisation (the World Bank) was the

cause to economic struggles and inequality in Latin America.

9 Barlow, M (09/05/2000) Desperate Bolivians Fought Street Battles To Halt A Water-For-Profit Scheme:The World Bank Must Realize Water Is A Basic Human Right, published in Toronto Globe andMail10 Ibid

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Illustrating the versatile and fragile nature of promoting

human security without oppressing or causing conflict amongst

impoverished peoples. The Bolivian water crisis is an example

of how the UN could struggle in the future to promote human

security.

Considering the failure of some economic security

policies of the UN, the UN has other problems in promoting

human security. In the Human Development Report mentioned

earlier it was highlighted that in 1999 the top 5th of the

world population indulged in 82% of world exports (UNDP,

1999), and since then the MDGs have been relatively slow in

achieving their goals by 2015 (Heywood, 2011).11 These facts

seem to point out that the scale of distributing wealth and

economic security without dismantling state or economic

structures (like in Bolivia) is difficult. Therefore, the

scale of promoting human security in the world is an obstacle

in itself. On the other hand, the fact that thousands of

families and workers now have economic security in Palestine,

Cambodia and others it shows that economic security for the

11 Heywood, A (2011) Global Politics, Chapter 18, published by Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, pp. 448

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sake of human security can be promoted.12 When done in small-

projects, without incepting current affairs or structures the

UN can promote human security to numerous populations. In

addition, it has been argued that no other organisation but

the UN has done more to lift people out of economic struggles

(Hanhimaki, 2008),13 but still the abstract number of people in

need of economic security and the rise in this figure suggests

the UN is very limited in being able to effectively promote

human security.

For the UN to effectively promote economic security

and therefore human security, it is important that the UN is

impartial and avoid ideological differences of running the

economy to provide security. Otherwise, the result of

enforcing divergent economic policy may just cause backlash

and unfaithfulness of the population to who they are trying to

promote human security.

Food Security:

12 UNDP Fast Facts (January 2013) Poverty Reduction and UNDP [PDF], New York, [Online] available at < http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/fast-facts/english/FF-Poverty-Reduction.pdf > [Accessed on 07/11/2013]13 Heywood, A (2011) Global Politics, Chapter 18, published by Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, pp. 448

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To be able to simply sustain life in an area where

human security is lacking, food security is a bare necessity

in achieving human security, this is a crucial component of

human security because of its necessity. Food security more or

less, is ensuring that the population has enough food which is

easily obtained and in abundance (Acharya, 2011).14 Food

security was further specified by the UN’s Food and

Agricultural Organisation (FAO) as being the ‘suf cient, safe fi

and nutritious food’ which is the basic dietary needs for a

healthy way of life (FAO, 2005b, p.1).15 The initial and MDG

goal was to reduce poverty and hunger by half, a response to

the effects of food insecurity in places like the sub-Sahara

and Southern Asia.16 Sudanese food insecurity has become a

major concern as current conflict and ethnic-sectarian

tensions have isolated the resource rich south from the

decollate north. To aid the food shortages, the UN has

introduced new agricultural methods and increased crop yields

14 Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P.Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 48015 Cordell, D. et al (2009) The story of Phosphorous: Global Food Security and Food for Thought, in Global Environment Change, [Online Journal Article] pp. 316 What are the Millennium Development Goals? (2013) UNICEF: Official Site, [Online] available at < http://www.unicef.org.uk/UNICEFs-Work/What-we-do/Millennium-Development-Goals/Background-to-the-MDGs/ > [Accessed on 08/11/2013]

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by the River Nile in Sudan. This has meant that 15.3 million

people had greater food security in 2011-2012.17 In Malawi,

people from the poorest 40% have been given nitrogen-fixed

trees to sustain maize production, which in all has aided 1.3

million of the poorest people and provided food security for

them (De Schutter, 2010).18 This has been achieved through the

UN’s awareness of not just ‘throwing money’ at the problem and

that agro-ecology and the observation and tracking of costs to

maintain farmland has to be accounted for to measure the

sustainability of food security in a region (De Schutter,

2010).19 The UN’s approach to food security has shown to be

both scientific and rational allowing the most isolated of

peoples to feels the effects of food security.

In another perspective, in 2009, the UN announced that 800

million people still have no access to basic food security

(SOFI, 2005; UN, 2005).20 States like Sudan, Afghanistan and

Chad are shown to be heavily without food security and have

17 UNDP Official Site, (2013) United Nations Development Programme, Our Work: Poverty Reduction, [Online] available at < http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html > [Accessed 08/11/2013]18 De Schutter, O (17/12/2010) Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to Food, Human Rights Council, Sixteenth session, Agenda 3, pp. 919 Ibid pp. 320 Cordell, D. et al (2009) The story of Phosphorous: Global Food Security and Food for Thought, in Global Environment Change, [Online Journal Article] pp. 3

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been described as an extreme of food insecurity.21 The concern

of the scale of promoting human security and achieving the

goals of 2015 is questionable once again, it’s clear that so

many of the food scarce populations continue to live without

food security, therefore human security. Another reason for

why effective promotion of food security may not always be a

realistic goal as wealth inequality of people worldwide

causes a disproportional amount of food being consumed in the

developed world and hardly consumed in states of conflict or

desertification. The fact that 82% of the world’s exports are

consumed by the top wealthiest 1/5 of the world populations

(Heywood, 2011), suggests that food insecurity is a by-product

of over-consumption and impoverishment in labouring,

developing countries like Sudan and the Sub-Sahara.22 The lack

of food security in southern Asian countries and impoverished

LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Counties) comes from

conflict and natural disasters, this makes it difficult for

21 Maplecroft: Global Risks Analysis (2010) Food Security Risk Index 2010 on New

Products and Analysis, [Online] available at <

http://maplecroft.com/about/news/food-security.html > [Accessed on

08/11/2013]22 Heywood, A (2011) Global Politics, Chapter 18, published by Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, pp. 448

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the UN to continuously try to aid those in desperation.23

Especially when disasters like the Niger Locust epidemic which

cost a lot of damage to Niger crops and exacerbated food

security (Barrett, 2010),24 a spontaneous incident like this is

hard to maintain and even high-yield crops implemented by the

UN can fall short of providing food security.

However, it has been identified that by introducing new

strands of more resilient wheat strains like in Sudan can help

millions.25 The UN has displayed that their efforts in

promoting human security through food security has achieved

the 3 pillars of food security outlined in the World Food

summit; ‘Accessibility, availability and utilization’

(Barrett, 2010, pp.825),26 confirming effective food security

promotion. Despite not addressing food security on as large a

scale as the problem exists, the UN has transformed millions

23 Leistungsangebot | Advisory Service, Security, Reconstruction and Peace Food securityin the context of conflicts and natural disasters [PDF] published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Germany, [Online] Available at < http://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2012-en-food-security-natural-disasters.pdf > [Accessed on 08/11/2013]24 Barrett, C,B. (12/02/2010) Measuring Food Insecurity in Science , Vol: 327, [Journal Article] pp. 82725 United Nations Development Programme (2013) UNDP Official Site, Our Work: Poverty Reduction, [Online] available at < http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html > [Accessed 08/11/2013]26 Barrett, C,B. (12/02/2010) Measuring Food Insecurity in Science , Vol: 327, [Journal Article] pp. 825

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of lives in terms of providing sufficient food security.

However, extraneous factors of natural disasters and conflict,

such as the Niger Locust epidemic caused greater food

deprivation. Therefore the UN has been restricted in

operationalizing global food security programmes and will be

in the future also, but can provide human security to a

minority as illustrated, hence why the UN can effectively

promote human security to a very limited extent.

Environmental Security:

Another very important area of human security is

environmental security which incorporates protection of short-

term and long-term damage to the environment and the

environments deterioration by explicit or gradual damage

(Archarya, 2011).27 The degradation of the environment can lead

to the creation of instability, conflict and increasing

vulnerability of local populations; Common causes of

environmental degradation are overconsumption in more

developed countries, inequality and demographic crises

27 Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P.Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 480

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emerging in the global south (Renner & French, 2004).28 In

addition, environmental disputes of ‘who owns what’ and the

lack of resource due to environmental degradation can be

exacerbated if environmental security isn’t promoted (Renner &

French, 2004).29 Also, environmental degradation is heavily

linked with food insecurity and crises human security crises

around the world.

Environmental decay, such as desertification in

Africa, was a primary environmental concern which the UN

initially addressed decades ago and was paramount in Agenda 21

(Darkoh, 1998).30 Desertification is the process of cultivated

land or land featuring life slowly transforms into a desert as

water is lost and deforestation (for example) removes

biodiversity, often prolonged by drought (Darkoh, 1998).31 In

Northern Africa, in places like Morocco and Algeria, over

cultivation and deforestation of land to support the local

28 Renner, M & French, H (2004) Linkages Between Environment, Population, and Development, in ECSP Report, Issue 10, pp. 54 Available at < http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/ecspr10_unf.pdf > [Accessedn 10/11/2013]29 Ibid pp. 5530 Darkoh, M,B,K. (1998) The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Desertification in the Drylands in Africa in Land Degradation and Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 1731 Darkoh, M,B,K. (1998) The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Desertification in the Drylands in Africa in Land Degradation and Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 1

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populations was causing devastating desertification, dust

bowls began to form, irrigation was minimal thus the

environment couldn’t sustain life or humanity in these regions

(Darkoh, 1998).32 The UN decided that to effectively protect

the environmental security of areas they would need to promote

sustainability, Involving renewable technology implementation,

sustainable food sources, sustainable population growth and

the safeguard of fragile ecosystems (Renner & French, 2011).33

In 2004 the UN wanted to regulate agriculture and reform it so

that productivity was controlled, along with harvesting and

fertilising so that over-cultivation couldn’t occur (Renner &

French, 2004).34 Similar, in the 70s the UN set out to ‘reclaim

dersertified land’ and begin to promote sustainable farming,

with 28 measures to prevent desertification characteristics

like soil erosion (Darkoh, 1998).35 Nevertheless, the

proclamation was established decades ago, but how effective

32 Ibid pp. 1133 Renner, M & French, H (2004) Linkages Between Environment, Population, and Development, in ECSP Report, Issue 10, pp. 57 Available at < http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/ecspr10_unf.pdf > [Accessed n 10/11/2013]34 Renner, M & French, H (2004) Linkages Between Environment, Population, and Development, in ECSP Report, Issue 10, pp. 57 Available at < http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/ecspr10_unf.pdf > [Accessed n 10/11/2013]35 Darkoh, M,B,K. (1998) The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Desertification in the Drylands in Africa in Land Degradation and Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 16

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was the UN in aiding and preventing desertification for the

sake of human security overall?

It was agreed at a UN general assembly that the

efforts to reverse desertification have created security

amongst governments, as now more governments surrounding

desertified regions now want to contribute in sustainable

farming (Porter, 2011).36 Considering these progressions it is

positive that the UN has actively promoted environmental

security in arid regions not only to individuals but to the

governing bodies. Yet, the actual progression in preventing

and aiding environmental damage in terms of desertification

has been minimal despite desertification being at the

forefront of issues in the UNCED’s (United Nation’s Conference

on Environment and Development) Agenda 21 which outlined

environmental security operations (Darkoh, 1998).37 One source

suggests that drought has doubled since the1970s and

henceforth 12 million hectares of land has been lost due to

36 Porter, C (21/09/2011) Stopping Desertification with Land Management Is U.N. Goal on IIP Digital Available athttp://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2011/09/20110921121241enelrahc0.9791223.html#axzz2kHKN5V9d > [Accessed on 10/11/2013]

37 Darkoh, M,B,K. (1998) The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Desertification in the Drylands in Africa in Land Degradation and Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 17

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desertification since the initial challenge was appointed

(Porter, 2011).38

The focus of dertification was a key concern of the

UN, there are various other threats to environmental security

but dertification is potentially the most major. The lack of

consistency and control in the UN’s promotion of sustainable

farming and prevention of further desertification shows that

environmental security promotion is a vast problematic

concern. Insofar, the UN’s goals for the environment can

really only be fully effective when autonomous parties take it

up themselves to promote environmental security, as it is

difficult for the UN to regulate the state of the environment

globally as it stands. The UN’s struggle of promoting

environmental security is sincere and a result of being over

ambitious despite some success in advising and promoting it to

other governments. Hereby, the UN can only promote human

security effectively in very limited terms.

Political Security:

38 Porter, C (21/09/2011) Stopping Desertification with Land Management Is U.N. Goal on IIP Digital Available at < http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2011/09/20110921121241enelrahc0.9791223.html#axzz2kHKN5V9d > [Accessed on 10/11/2013]

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In order for human security to be present, the state

must maintain human security, which brings us onto the

requirement of political security in within human security.

Political security is the ensured freedom of individuals and

groups in terms of exercising ideas and information (Acharya,

2011).39 Political security is a cornerstone in human security

as it is a fundamental principle in promoting direct freedom

of the individual, assured political security also allows the

UN to effectively promote every other aspect of security,

which makes political security key.

There has been progress nevertheless, in more stable

countries where political security has been infringed along

with freedoms of various ethnicities, such as the Kosovo

crisis 1999. The UNMIK’s (United Nations Interim

Administration Mission in Kosovo) initial efforts were

defective (Naarden & Locke, 2004),40 but in 1999, despite

ethnic tension and violence ethnic cleansing was stopped by

the coalition forces in Kosovo which was propelled and agreed

39 Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P.Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 48040 Naarden, G,L. & Locke, J,B (2004) Peacekeeping and Prosecutorial Policy: Lessons fromKosovo in The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Oct., 2004), published by American Society for International Law, pp. 727

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to by the UN.41 The UN illustrated here a firm hand in decided

and collectively engaging in reasonable security measures to

defend the human rights and freedoms of the individuals in

Kososvo. Political security was maintained here, but still

human security for the ethnic diverse population was ensured.

The UN’s role was overshadowed by other state actor forces

such as NATO, which reiterates my initial point that the UN

can only effectively promote human security to a very limited

extent. Additionally, the controversial bombing of RTS by NATO

was never really a major concern of the UN’s human security

promotion,42 which confounds the values the UN established in

attempting to promote Human security.

A prime example of a politically insecure state

would be Somalia which has constant attacks by insurgents,

civil war and governmental loss of control (Lyons & Samatar,

1995).43 Somalia’s politics is very close to anarchy, which in

41 Security Council, United Nations (2004) Press Release: Security Council, In Presidential Statement, Strongly Condemns Inter-Ethnic Violence in Kosovo, Insists on Immediate Halt, [Online] available at < http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8030.doc.htm > [Accessed on 12/11/2013]42 United Nations ICTY, Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Reviewthe NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, [Online] Available at < http://www.icty.org/sid/10052#IVB4 > [Accessed on 12/11/2013]43 Lyons, T & Samatar, A.I (1995) Somalia: State Collapse, Multilateral Intervention, and strategies for Political Reconstruction, published by The Brookings Institution, Washington, U.S.A, pp. 1

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this case refers to severe political insecurity and stability.

Moreover, Somalia’s social structures which support the

economic, resource and general wealth distribution have been

torn down due to the conflicts and anarchical state of the

political landscape (Lyons & Samatar, 1995).44 Additionally,

Somalia’s political instability is rooted in the North-East,

North-West divisions as well as the sectarianism in Somalia

which features an Islamic fundamentalist group who desires to

implement sharia Law (Bryden, 1995).45 The UN have attempted to

maintain Somalia’s growing issues through multilateral

approaches and direct intervention in aiding victims of the

violence or promoting peace for political stability. In 1992,

the UN formed a response to the 1990s political turmoil in

Somalia with the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM),

which was a 90-day plan for humanitarian assistance in Somalia

(United Nations, 1992).46 UNOSOM involved over 800 troops to

coerce and formulate its strategy of promoting political

44 Ibid pp.1-245 Bryden, M (08/01/1995) The United Nations and Somalia After UNOSOM: A Report on UN-EUE Mission to Nairobi and Djibouti, UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, available at < http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/Futursom.htm > [Accessed on 11/112013]46 United Nation Site, Somalia UNOSOM I [Online] Available at < http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unosom1backgr2.html > {Accessed on 11/112013]

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security in Somalia, the outcome of this was that only 6

fatalities amongst the UN branch occurred.47

However, according to Bryden’s report, the UN’s operation

had very little effect on Somalia, and the UN’s credibility

has fallen. 4.5 million People were on the brink of

malnutrition and 60% of Somalia’s infrastructure had been

destroyed during or just preceding UN intervention (Thakur,

1994).48 The UN’s aid and assistance in terms of relief and

goods was often hijacked and stolen by the clans and families

of the 14 warlords who attribute to the Somalia conflict

(Ibid).49 The instability and mere non-existence of Somalia’s

economy and social structures is a harrowing consequence of

political insecurity as the 14 clans rival and plan to

eliminate the other. The UN has very few options in

establishing and maintaining a peaceful, democratic state that

satisfies all, as the spectrum of division amongst the

population and severity of the violence makes it almost

impossible. Tharkur argues the difficulty in promoting human

47 United Nations Site, Somalia UNOSOM I: Facts and Figures, [Online] Available at< http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unosom1facts.html > [Accessed on 11/112013]48 Thakur, R (1994) From Peacekeeping to Peace Enforcement: The UN Operation in Somalia, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), published by Cambridge University Press, pp. 40249 Ibid

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security and political for all in Somalia lies with the UN’s

ignorance of ethnicity (Tharkur, 1994),50 as the UN wished to

end ancient clan hatred but failed. The conflicts and

political insecurity is still as rife as ever as depicted in

the Western media.51

More or less, the UN has been largely ineffective in

promoting any form of government or protecting the rights of

most of the population to an effective degree. The complexity

(featuring 14 conflicting parties) of the political

instability contributes to the UN’s struggling operations of

promoting human security, and such complex issues are beyond

UN peaceful processes. The case of the UN controlling internal

political security can be generalised to other states, as

intra-state conflict has been considerably increasing

throughout the 20th century and rose again in 2008 (UCDP, 2009;

Acharya, 2011).52 The peak being over 50 such conflicts during

1990-1992, that figure in 2008 was 30, not to mention there

50 Thakur, R (1994) From Peacekeeping to Peace Enforcement: The UN Operation in Somalia, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), published by Cambridge University Press, pp. 40451 Anonymous – ‘Foreign Staff’ (26/09/2013) UK 'warned of Somalia warfare' in The Telegraph, 52 Acharya, A (2011) UCDP, 2009, Uppsala Conflict Data Project (UCDP) in The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 485

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was an increase in terrorist incidents and fatalities between

2002 and 2005 (Acharya, 2011).53 The UN’s limited impact on

securing freedoms from war or conflict casualties as well as

political instability is concurrent with the recent trends of

human impact of political insecurity. Leading to the view

that the UN’s can really only be effective in promoting human

security to a very limited degree.

Conclusion:

It is fair to associate human security with the broad

spectrum of other forms of security as described in the

introduction. The four main components of human security which

I argued to be the most important for existential and

sustainability reasons, these included political, economic,

environmental and food security (Acharya, 2011).54 The UN’s

promotion of human security as a whole is very limited. On one

hand, numerous cases of improvements of conditions in places

like Sudan and South Asia where food security was 53 Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P.Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 485

54 Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction toInternational Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis, J, Smith, S, Owens, P. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Pp. 480

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strategically imposed suggests effective methods; along with

the alleviation of poverty in Palestine and Africa to some

extent.55 In contrast, the more significant facts of escalading

conflicts and political instability since the UN’s formation,

antithetical economic policy, and the struggle consider the

scale of human security and the impracticality of mitigating

environmental security are obvious. The UN’s struggle in

promoting human security in the scale it wishes too and with

the lack of power and knowledge in handling these issues

underlines the UN’s potential effectiveness in promoting human

security as very limited.

55 UNDP Fast Facts (January 2013) Poverty Reduction and UNDP [PDF], New York, available at < http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/fast-facts/english/FF-Poverty-Reduction.pdf > [Accessed on 07/11/2013]

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Bibliography:

Acharya, A (2011) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, chapter 29 (5th edition), edited by Baylis,J, Smith, S, Owens, P. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Anonymous – ‘Foreign Staff’ (26/09/2013) UK 'warned of Somalia warfare' in The Telegraph,

Barlow, M (09/05/2000) Desperate Bolivians Fought Street Battles To Halt A Water-For-Profit Scheme: The World Bank Must Realize Water Is A Basic Human Right, published in Toronto Globe and Mail

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