Talk of the Town

Making the World a Safer Place: The Human Security Report

Tue. Apr. 27 7:30-9:00 pm

With: Dr. Andrew Mack of the Liu Institute for Global Issues

"Today, security is about the protection of communities and individuals from internal violence as well as the defense of borders against external threats. It is this focus -- on the individual rather than the state -- that distinguishes 'human security' from 'national security'." -- Liu Institute for Global Issues

Most of us, given our daily diet of news reports about war, terrorism and violence, think that the world is becoming a more dangerous place. But contrary to conventional wisdom, the world has in fact experienced a dramatic decline in global political violence over the past decade. Armed conflicts are not only less frequent they are also becoming less deadly. This shift in the most pervasive threat to human security demands a re-evaluation of the system that oversees the rights and abuses of people who fall victim to the changing nature of violence.

Today, more than 95 percent of all armed conflicts take place within, and not between, states and most take place in the world’s poorest countries. Civilians are deliberately targeted and hundreds of thousands of children have been coerced into becoming armed fighters. Paramilitary forces and private military corporations have proliferated worldwide and security is increasingly being privatized. Boundaries between political and criminal violence are becoming progressively more blurred, while the very definition of ‘security’ is undergoing a radical transformation. National security is important but in a world where interstate war is now the rare exception, and where far more people are killed by their own governments than by foreign armies, there is a need for a new and very different global security audit.

Professor Andrew Mack, formerly of the United Nations and now director of the Centre for Human Security at the Liu Institute for Global Issues (UBC), heads a international initiative to compile and coordinate data on the shifting trends of global security issues. He is the author of The Human Security report, an internationally focused research effort to examine the causes and implications of this transformation in the nature of security. The Human Security Report will map the causes, severity and consequences of global violence and include a major section on policy responses. Mr. Mack will join Talk of the Town to discuss the preliminary findings of his research, as well as to explain the reasons for the change in conflict research and the impact it has on shaping policy.

The discussion will take place at UBC's Robson Square campus. Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604.822.5675.

Perspectives on Human Security

"Human security has become both a new measure of global security and a new agenda for global action. Safety is the hallmark of freedom from fear, while well-being is the target of freedom from want. Human security and human development are thus two sides of the same coin, mutually reinforcing and leading to a conducive environment for each other." -- Chairman's Summary of the 1st Ministerial Meeting of the Human Security Network, Lysøen Norway, May 20, 1999

"The question is, does humanity stop at a nation’s borders? The answer must be no. Thus, we have to broaden our traditional ideas about the responsibilities of sovereign states, not only the responsibilities of rich nations towards poor ones, but of all countries to each other. [...] The first obligation of sovereign states is to their own citizens. That is clear. But even just to do that properly in an interdependent world, states have to be engaged beyond their borders. Further, all states today have as well a real and legitimate stake in the welfare of other countries, and that confers a special obligation on political leaders to make our international systems work for the welfare of all. [...] We need multilateral institutions that work. Not as ideological ends in themselves, but as indispensable instruments of national well-being." -- Prime Minister Paul Martin Speaking at the World Economic Forum on January 23, 2004

Links & Readings

Links

Liu Institute for Global Issues

Features articles by professor Andrew Mack, Lloyd Axworthy and other prominent Canadian and International researchers.

Canadian Consortium on Human Security

Information on Canadian contributions to international peace efforts.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Readings, reports and video footage of world-leading research into peace and conflict studies. Links to nearly every major affiliate in the European Union.

Project Ploughshares Armed Conflicts Report

A direct link to an article in McLuhan Studies by Philip Marchand about the writing of McLuhan’s biography.

Trials of War in Liberia

Warning: some content may be disturbing to some viewers.

Jihad vs. McWorld

A précis of the novel by Benjamin R. Barber that discusses how "the two axial principles of our age -- tribalism and globalism -- clash at every point except one: they may both be threatening to democracy."