The concept of security has shifted over the past
15 years, and has moved beyond a focus solely on the
security of nations to include a focus on the security of
individuals and communities.1 However, it was not until
the 1990s that the concept of human security began to
take clearer shape after it was reappraised within the
UN. In particular, the UN Development Programme’s
(UNDP) Human Development Report, 1994 fi rst made
the connection between human security and the dual
freedoms from fear and want, which were originally
outlined in the US Secretary of State’s report on the
1945 San Francisco Conference. The UNDP report is also
said to be the first document to provide a comprehensive
definition of human security, covering economic, food,
health, environmental, personal, community, and
political security.2
In practice, the need for an expanded conceptualisation
of security was triggered by a series of tragedies around
the world. The genocides in Rwanda (1994) and
Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995) starkly illustrated to
the world that the traditional concept of security as the
protection of national borders was not sufficient to save
lives in the face of civil conflict. In both cases, national
security failed to protect individuals and communities
within their own national boundaries, which thus provided
justification for expanding the object of security.