Human security redefining the ethics of peacebuilding

an unusual normalcy

and shouted the war town of pulikhundi

afghanistan

a normalcy wherein all roads lacked the

casual banter of human life

wherein the pungent smell of chaat

gunpowder

bereft the air of its alpine freshness

wherein the infrastructural bounties of

the 21st century

were a distant dream wherein every

attempt

to stretch one’s lips into a smile was

met

by a subdued reciprocal from an insecure

local

wherein possessive parents sheltered in

bunkers

huddle their children in the expectation

of an unpredictable salvo

of artillery fire we’re in everyone

and i repeat every single person

was a victim of fear with no guarantee

of their tomorrow

this is scary some usual complaints of

the residents

we are caught up in the battles day and

night between the taliban insurgents and

the afghan security forces

battles between the taliban and security

forces prevent us from working

we are doing our work in the battles and

we are tired of this situation

every day there is fighting there is

fighting and they are saving us with

weapons and guns but

but it’s very hard for us to work and

live in such a situation we want the

government to make peace

and to bring stability to our area

well i’ve never actually been to puli

kumbri or afghanistan

but this is all that i’ve read

interviews videos and first person

narratives

they never fail to shock me and always

send a shiver down my spine

being a military daughter i’ve seen my

share of war-torn lives and devastation

especially during border shelling from

across in various sectors via

international border

the what i’ve seen can never match up in

magnitude to what’s happening in tuli

khumri

i can understand what the people are

facing

and it pains me it pains me that even

after great countries and even greater

organizations try

all peace building efforts reach a void

and that the true meaning of peace

is never rejoiced by the people

this peace this peace they asked for

some might say that inching closer

towards it

with the military of almost every

superpower having been embroiled in

armed conflicts

to defeat the enemy so then

what’s the problem if everyone’s

involved to defeat the enemy

what’s the problem why hasn’t the peace

come

where is this peace that the people ask

for

means afghanistan is just one example

the world is plagued with conflicts as

such and all be

fine and long and scream for is peace

world peace world peace world

peace haven’t we all heard this phrase

but ladies and gentlemen how do we

define peace

is peace merely an activity of fighting

and vanquishing

is peace merely triumph in war or

is it something more well personally

peace is a more wholesome concept the

emancipation of human insecurities in a

broad sense

because all people really want is to do

away with their fears

and that is what peace needs to account

for

so if summarized as such then

what is the difficulty in ensuring

successful peace building efforts

through conflict-ridden regions it’s not

like we don’t know what peace means

then why do we falter

why is it that we have scenarios like

afghanistan

where in no matter how hard the states

and non-state actors strive

sustainable peace is always a distant

dream

the answer is quite direct actually

there forget the people

now in the process of implementing what

they think will confer peace

these actors forget the importance of

the people

enclosed in the boundary of the state in

question

there forget the importance of people

when answering

the ethical questions of peace building

namely

which type of peace who is peace and how

peace

to sum it all up there forget to

construct a sustainable pc

to the concept and prism of human

security

now what is human security you may ask

well after doing a bit of research and

reading under some pioneers in this

field

i’ve come to understand human security

as this intricately woven concept

encompassing the freedom from fear want

and indignity i believe that it targets

the people

and affirms that to maintain a

successful peace-building effort

the general public’s beliefs and

conceptions

must confer a popular legitimacy onto

the stage

the public must remain in sync with all

endeavors

of improving the condition of their

society

it is for this reason that human

security for me

answers the question what type of peace

by aiming to eliminate

the public sphere eliminate the public’s

want and eliminate the public’s

indignity

thus emphasizing on the provision of

security to the people whose

insecurities are most at stake

and then this is definitely instead of

pleasing and accounting for the wishes

of any external actor this means that

failed states are so because they cannot

exercise their primary function of

social protection

hence failing in their duty to protect

provide for and empower their citizens

the state should therefore protect the

survival

livelihood and dignity of the entire

population

while ensuring that it can provide for

and safeguard

the public’s larger expectations and the

state must

most definitely place these aims above

the existence

the nature and the power of the state

itself

with respect to the second question of

peace building

ethical peace building to be more

specific how peace

i believe that human security emphasizes

the empowerment of people

that is transforming them into agents of

change

protecting them and providing welfare

as suggested by the amazing professor

to attain a sustainable peace the state

should avoid

short-term military or policing

solutions and

should instead resort to a long-term

comprehensive strategy that combines

protection the provision of welfare and

emancipation

linking this to what i’ve learned

through my economics classes

the state should hence focus on the

strategies of economic growth

that are inclusive of income

distribution equity

and enhanced freedom by following these

strategies now

the state would be able to achieve human

security

through human development which would

therefore

lead to the enhancement of the public’s

capabilities and

functioning this betterment in the

people’s capabilities who are the

resources

would consequently protect and establish

a sustainability

in the concept of the state’s

functioning which definitely forms an

essential component

of the state security hence constituting

to a successful peace building effort

furthermore something i’m very i

strongly believe in

is the fact that alongside the

empowerment of the people

i think the human security approach also

at some point

details the importance of a departure

from considering

liberal democracies as a precondition to

peace

now yes even though the model of liberal

peace may be efficient

the public must be maintained not only

as the subjects know

but as peace building aims

to ensure this i mean to have a

successful peace building effort of

course

everything needs to center around the

underlying norms of the local population

the public’s involvement in the design

and implementation

and finally the idea that the public and

only the public

should be the direct beneficiaries of

the intervention

consequently um according to me a

successful peace building effort from

the human security point of view

um details the importance of a consensus

surrounding the validity of the peace

building models

by the local population and also their

reception of the results of the peace

building endeavour

now unfortunately in most of the

conflicted regions

this has been a point which was largely

amiss

for example in afghanistan as i

previously mentioned

the u.s intervened and largely left the

rest of the country to its own devices

it counted only on the popular support

and the services

of the war lords and then the

cooperation of the pakistanis

in preventing infiltrations across the

border to maintain order

the u.s plan however as we all know did

not

work the war lords encouraged the

cultivation of opm the general public

opposed warlords especially the

southeast

now this dichotomy between the general

public and the elite warlords

had previously fueled the seizure of

power for the talibans

and now once again it was smoothing the

way for the resurgence

in the pashtun areas thus contributing

to afghanistan’s unfortunate failure

as a state finally

human security for me answers the

question

what type of peace by stressing the

importance of a peace that responds

to the emancipation from insecurities in

daily life as well

not only the big picture but even the

smaller miniscule details

impacting every life through the lens of

human security

every insecurity be it threats to

survival functional threats to

livelihood

or even threats to dignity are just as

imperative to protect

as the other furthermore um

i think it also affirms the fact that

all threats and insecurities

are interlinked and interdependent

hence to ensure a successful peace

building effort

a very important connection must be

sought between all insecurities in a

manner

that the intervention in one domain

transcends into a plethora of positive

externalities

hence the human security approach

proposes the idea of peace

as a wholesome emancipation from

insecurity

with no insecurity ever ever gaining a

priority

over the other to conclude

if we want peace if we really want the

phrase world peace to materialize

then states must adopt the policy of

human security

peace building should center around the

people because at the end

the state is its people if the people

are

happy then ladies and gentlemen

the state the state is indeed a failed

institution

thank you