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INTRODUCTIONA series of case studies was commissioned by UN-Habitatspecifically for this Global Report on each of the threethreats to urban safety and security addressed in the report(i.e. crime and violence, insecurity of tenure and forcedevictions, and natural and human-made disasters). For eachof these threats – covered in Parts II, III and IV of the report,respectively – case studies illustrate empirical conditions andtrends; as well as effective policy responses. An attempt hasbeen made to ensure adequate coverage of all of the world’sgeographic regions.This part contains summaries of 25 of these casestudies. The original case studies may be found, in full, atUN-Habitat’s website (www.unhabitat.org). Many of theillustrative boxes contained in the different chapters of thisreport are based on these case studies, while some of theexperiences described in the case studies – including relatedempirical evidence – are also directly integrated within thetext of the chapters.A typical illustrative box in this report uses only aportion of the full case study, so that the ‘full story’ of theexperience on which the box is based may not be apparentto the reader. The summaries contained in this part thusprovide the reader with a fuller picture of the experiencesdescribed in the illustrative boxes, including the geographicaland socio-economic context of the case; the full scope ofthe experience described; and the main conclusions orlessons from the case.THE HUMAN SECURITYPERSPECTIVEEnhancing urban safety and human securityin Asia through the United Nations TrustFund for Human SecurityIn March 1999, the Government of Japan and the UnitedNations Secretariat launched the United Nations Trust Fundfor Human Security (UNTFHS), from which the Commissionon Human Security prepared the Human Security Nowreport in 2003 as a contribution to the United NationsSecretary-General’s plea for progress on the goals of‘freedom from want’ and ‘freedom from fear’. The mainobjective of the UNTFHS is to advance the operationalimpact of the human security concept, particularly incountries and regions where the insecurities of people aremost manifest and critical, such as in areas affected bynatural and human-made disasters.Growing inequalities between the rich and the poor,as well as social, economic and political exclusion of largesectors of society, make the security paradigm increasinglycomplex. Human security has broadened to include suchconditions as freedom from poverty and access to work,education and health. This, in turn, has necessitated achange in perspective, from state-centred security to peoplecentredsecurity. To ensure human security as well as statesecurity, particularly in conflict and post-conflict areas whereinstitutions are often fragile and unstable, rebuildingcommunities becomes an absolute priority to promote peaceand reconciliation.With the rapid urbanization of the world’s population,human security as protecting ‘the vital core of all humanlives in ways that enhance human freedoms and humanfulfilment’ increasingly means providing the conditions oflivelihood and dignity in urban areas. Living conditions arecrucial for human security since an inadequate dwelling,insecurity of tenure and insufficient access to basic servicesall have a strong negative impact on the lives of the urbanpopulation, particularly the urban poor. Spatial discriminationand social exclusion limit or undermine the rights to thecity and to citizenship.In this context, UN-Habitat is coordinating threeUNTFHS programmes in Afghanistan, northeast Sri Lankaand Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, all focusingon informal settlements upgrading. On the assumption thatcommunity empowerment is crucial for reconstructing waraffectedsocieties, all programmes have adopted thecommunity action planning method – a community-basedconsultative planning process – and have establishedcommunity development councils as the most effectiveapproach to improving living conditions and human securityin informal settlements.■ Upgrading informal settlements in threecities in AfghanistanThe programme’s main objective is to improve the urbanenvironment in informal settlements by:• providing security of tenure and adequate access tobasic infrastructure; and• empowering the communities to directly implementspecific projects and to negotiate with central andmunicipal agencies.