Human Security in the South Debated

The Helsinki Process Track on Human Security opened its three day meeting in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday 30th September. The meeting focuses on urgent human security priorities facing the South ranging from violence against women to the trafficking of human persons.

"Although human security has emerged as an issue of global political concern in the last decade, proponents have not been able to mobilize the requisite level of resources and political support required for the many humanitarian, social, economic, environmental and developmental challenges that threaten human security," said Professor Fen Osler Hampson, Convenor of the Track on Human Security, at the meeting’s opening outreach event “Responsibility to Protect and the Southern Perspective”.

Dr Heba Handoussa, Helsinki Group member and former Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey, emphasised the need to address gender-based insecurity.
“Women in the Middle East and Africa are suffering from violence in conflict, but also in homes, and a lot of catching up needs to be done in order to meet the health needs of women in this region. The gender gap in the representation of women in political life needs to be addressed too,” Handoussa noted.

It was agreed that political will needs to be mobilized in order to ensure resources for human security. In addition to financial resources, the international community has, in the last years, debated even further its’ own responsibility to protect people from various insecurities when a sovereign state is either unwilling or unable to do so.

The key-note speaker, Vice-Rector Ramesh Thakur from the United Nations University in Tokyo emphasised the role of the United Nations as the only international authority that can override national sovereignty. “The UN lies at the centre and symbolises a rules-based order. Those who would challenge the present system should indicate, which is their preferred alternative system of rules, including dispute resolution,” Thakur stated.

During the next few days, the Helsinki Process Track on Human Security will finalise its report with a set of concrete recommendations on how to deal with urgent human security priorities. In the forthcoming year, political support is to be mobilized to make these recommendations a reality.

For more information please contact:
Helsinki Process Assistant General Secretary Johanna Vuori-Karvia, mobile: +358 41 536 2722, e-mail: johanna.vuori-karvia@cmi.fi
Mr. Said Sadek, Embassy of Finland in Egypt, tel. 010 502 1594, e-mail: saidsadek@hotmail.com