Fieldwork in Ethiopia, picture by Mr. Izumi (Many thanks!)
On 20 Nov. 2007, we had as guest presenter Mr. Hisashi Izumi, consultant at the Japanese Embassy in Ethiopia. His presentation was aimed to argue over the limit of Human Security based on his field experiences.
The point of his question was “Is Human Security useful or practical?”.
He discussed this point from following 3 perspectives:
-Human Security as a concept
As a concept, HS have not been useful so much as other concepts such as Human Development which created Human Development Index.
-Implementation
National sovereignty has always prevented Donors (International Organizations, NGOs etc) from implementing Human Security. As a result, a humanitarian crisis has been neglected in the Eastern Ethiopian region, Somali Region.
-NGO “rational” choice.
It would be ideal if many NGOs would work in poor area. But, in reality, many NGOs tend to choose wealthy areas as their projects sites, considering the some aspects (lack of educated people, access, etc.)
After his lecture, we had an animated discussion on several points.
One comment highlighted the difference between looking as a concept or as an instrument; and how the presenter was pessimistic around top institutions, while having the opportunity to work empowerment from the bottom.
Another question was about which are the specific expectations the presenter had from Human Security, to establish a framework of discussion. The presenter told the audience that if there was no instrumental application, skepticism was probably his position about further application. A replica addressed that the very fact of Japanese international cooperation being based on human security and a budget destined to projects in that sense was a window for action.
Further projects the dynamic of cooperation with local NGOs, how much the participation comes from local initiative, and the evaluation process of projects.
And final comment was concerned with the relation between Human Security and state sovereignty in terms of the humanitarian intervention, as follows: If Human Security justifies armed intervention in humanitarian crisis, it means that the principle that all state sovereignty should be respected can be ignored only in relation with the state which will be intervened. In this sense, Human Security beats state sovereignty on the one hand. However, on the other hand, the states that decide which states could be recognized as “Failed states” can keep their powers sovereign.