Indispensability of Human Security in a Polarizing World

The people-centered approach is facing major challenges. Violence is escalating, political conflicts and societal polarization are intensifying, and geopolitical tensions are rising. These threats derived from the social system have interacted with threats originating from the physical and living systems, including natural disasters, climate change, and pandemics like COVID-19. These critical and pervasive threats easily cross state boundaries and become globalized. However, in responding to them, states afflicted with sociopolitical polarization tend to prioritize state security over international cooperation, making global responses more fragmented and less coordinated.
People in vulnerable situations have been marginalized and left out of the coverage of welfare and security. Destabilization linked to sociopolitical polarization has made it increasingly challenging for states to ensure people’s everyday safety. The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is at a stake. The trend of unilateral emphasis on state security tends to obscure the necessity of responding to global challenges by promoting international cooperation with the people-centered approach.
Nevertheless, the concept of human security, which centers on protecting the intrinsic worth of every individual, has emerged since the end of the Cold War. The idea of human security gained a consensus at the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 and has been consistent with the SDGs’ core commitment to “leaving no one behind.” The outcome document of the Summit of the Future adopted in September 2024 has underlined the effort to assure all humanity of well-being, security, and dignity. The framework developed under human security encourages states to provide survival, livelihoods, and dignity for every person and to enhance global solidarity. People must be placed at the center of security, though the rediscovery of the state and the international system should be at the heart of individual security.
This panel will examine the multifaceted challenges that make the vulnerable left behind and robbed of security. Together, the panel will explore ways to promote human security that emphasizes survival, livelihood, and dignity of individuals against common challenges, even amid escalating division and polarization within and between countries, keeping specific contexts in Asia in mind.