Unsettling Human (In)Security: Challenging Neglect and Making the Unapparent Appear

Abstract

The concept of human security, introduced to the global public policy lexicon in 1994, did two things. First, it challenged conventional and dominant state-centric approaches to security to rethink security in universal people-centred terms. Second, in its focus on human life and dignity, it called for a profound transition in security thinking to make all people everywhere matter. This article argues that the development of human security within the UN system has not sufficiently met these objectives. Through an analysis of three key human security sectors— food security, health security and disaster events—it reveals how conventional approaches to human security can be implicated in neglect, invisibility and marginalisation such that those already facing insecurity are made worse off still. A critical human security lens demonstrates that foregrounding recognition, solidarity and agency can help to expose invisibilities and encourage strategies to make people count.