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Contributions from
the Column
Media
Make law not war
Human security:
useful survey
Anchor country China:
business perspectives
Energy policy:
a worthy introduction
01/2006 |
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Human security:
useful survey
Human Security Centre (ed.):
Human security report 2005.
War and peace in the 21st century.
New York, Oxford University Press 2005, 170 pages,
¤ 29.95, ISBN 0195307399
Contrary to widespread opinion, the world has become more peaceful in recent years. This, at least, is the main thrust of the first Human Security Report. The report was produced by the Human Security Centre at the University of British Columbia, which was co-founded by Canada’s former Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy. Human security is understood as protection of the individual from acts of violence. The Centre only regards underdevelopment, malnutrition and disease as possible causes of violence rather than as violence in itself.
According to the report, the number of armed conflicts has reduced worldwide from 50 to 29 since 1992. The percentage of people killed declined even further. The report largely attributes this improvement to the end of the Cold War and the termination of the superpowers’ support for “proxy wars” in the developing world. In the wake of the Cold War, moreover, there was an unprecedented increase in United Nations peace missions, which settled or defused numerous conflict situations. Most wars today are low-intensity conflicts fought out in poor countries with simple weapons. Alternatively, one side is so dominant – such as the USA in Afghanistan and Iraq – that fewer combatants perish.
The situation in sub-Saharan Africa is a major cause for concern. The report registers continuing unfavourable conditions for overcoming violence, but it fails to mention that the indirect consequences of war, such as malnutrition and disease, claim many more lives in poor countries – in the Congo alone well over three million people perished between 1998 and 2003.
While the first section of the report is devoted to violent conflict between countries, the second part sets out data on fighting between social groups, without state participation. Such confrontations occur more frequently than wars and civil wars, but they claim far fewer victims, and here too, numbers are declining. Also, unilateral acts of violence, such as genocide, are decreasing. On the one hand, this seems plausible (genocide usually only occurs in times of war), but it is not clear, on the other hand, how meaningful these figures are. Genocide is difficult to define. Some new cases or a different definition can quickly change the trend.
The report also addresses the issue of political repression and crime. Due to the problematic data base, the statements made are clearly very general. According to the research group, a comprehensive index of human security – comparable to the Human Development Index of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) – is not feasible at present – and perhaps not even desirable. In view of the many forms that violence can take, it could perhaps hinder rather than facilitate an understanding of the problems.
Drawing on generally-accessible data, the report challenges the over-publicised image of wars in the media. It makes no comparison with figures based on other methods of counting or other definitions of war, but its analysis of trends appears convincing. Other sections of the report expand the data base on human security. Both make the book useful and worthwhile reading.
Bernd Ludermann
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