European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

DIFFERENCE AS DESTABILISING FACTOR 147social and personal) should be the central theme of our reflections,debates and, especially so, of our work.Human Security (“Fear”)The world currently discusses, more than ever before, the meaningof security, the policies which can make a world with safer societiesand the factors causing people (and States) to feel worried, fearful andinsecure. In this constant, inevitable and necessary reflection uponsecurity, the presence of the new concept of “Human Security” cangreatly help us to adapt this debate to the requirements and needs ofthe whole of mankind, and not only to the interests of a few States 4 .The international divulgation of the concept of “Human Security”began in 1994, when the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) centred its annual report on Human Development with respectto such notion. According to this organization, at the heart of humaninsecurity there is vulnerability, and the issue that must be brought intoquestion is how should individuals be protected, insisting on the directimplication of people and on the tight links between development andsecurity. This concept is evolutionary and not closed, and it will be so fora long time. Its discussion constitutes an excellent excuse to redefineour old security mechanisms centred on military aspects and to detectthe needs of the planet as a whole, with all its inherent variety. In 1984,the UNDP already referred to eight security (or insecurity) dimensions:economic-financial, food, health, environmental, personal, gender,community and politicalIts merit was compiling and systematising the existing range of“global insecurities” (demographic growth, differences betweencountries, uncontrolled migrations, environmental deterioration, drugtrafficking, international terrorism...) in order to equally synthesise theglobal instruments needed to tackle such problems. The goal of humansecurity is to safeguard the vital centre of all human beings against allcritical threats beyond its control (financial crisis, violent conflicts, AIDS,pollution, terrorism...). By vital centres we mean certain human rightsand basic capacities and needs that all individuals and institutions arecompelled to offer, protect and respect, because they are related tosurvival, sustenance and dignity. Human Development is, thus, aconcept centred on individuals and communities, not on States.4Fisas, Vicenç. Repensar Seguridad. Escuela de Cultura de la Paz. UniversidadAutónoma de Barcelona.