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