PRESS BRIEFING BY CO-CHAIRS OF COMMISSION ON HUMAN SECURITY

The survival and dignity of millions of people today were threatened by conflict, poverty, infectious diseases and human rights violations, Sadako Ogata, Co-Chair of the Commission on Human Security and former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing on the results of the Commission’s first meeting, which was held this weekend at the Green Tree Estate on Long Island, New York.  Amartya Sen,

Ms. Ogata’s Co-Chair and the 1998 Nobel Prize winner for Economics, also addressed the press conference.

The challenges of globalization affected communities and individuals unevenly, and they were not adequately addressed by conventional approaches,

Ms. Ogata said, noting that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had called on the world community to advance the twin goals of freedom from want and freedom from fear.  A new human-centred approach must be developed if those issues were to be addressed in an effective and comprehensive way.

The goals of the independent Commission on Human Security were threefold,

Ms. Ogata said.  First was to provide public understanding, engagement and support of human security and its underlying imperatives.  Second was to develop the concept of human security as an operational tool for policy formulation and implementation.  Third was to propose a concrete programme of action to address critical and pervasive threats to human security.

To achieve those goals, the Commission would attempt to develop comprehensive approaches that closely incorporated development and humanitarian concerns.  In doing so it would take note of existing initiatives and advance an integrated framework for launching collaborative action.  The Commissioners had examined approaches linking poverty and vulnerabilities with the reduction of conflicts.  They had also considered the various adversities arising from social inequities, identity conflicts and human rights violations.

The Commission would consult with governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other parts of civil society, she said.  It planned to complete its work by early 2003, by which time it expected to finalize a plan of action with the widest possible reach.

Responding to a question on funding, Ms. Ogata noted that during her tenure as High Commissioner for Refugees she had had no funding problems during times of crisis.  When the crisis receded, however, the funds did too, and those were the times when a lot more work with development agencies, NGOs and governments became necessary.  In spite of the fact that right now the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was facing funding difficulties, now was the time to come up with better ideas and forward-looking strategies.  There was still room for a lot of strategic thinking and forward planning, and she had the backing of UNHCR. 

Amartya Sen, Ms. Ogata’s Co-Chair, said the issues of inequality, poverty and human rights violations were much wider than just a refugee problem.  They affected the nature of the world economy, the pattern of globalization and the

progress of democracy.  Funding and general resources would be needed from a wide variety of organizations. 

The availability of funds also depended to a great extent on how the problems were perceived, Mr. Sen said.  The Commission was hoping to make a contribution in that direction.  There was a willingness on the part of the world community to engage in the issues of globalization, he noted.  It was part of the Commission’s job to try to provide an integrated understanding of what the issues were, and how the diverse resources of the “rich world in which we live” might be brought to bear on them.

Responding to another question on funding, Mr. Sen said a better understanding of the nature of international aid and financing was needed.  The collaborative efforts that the Commission would like to see in the world included different levels -– at the governmental level, it could be loans, aid or donations; at the business level, it involved the conduct of responsible business across the world. 

A correspondent asked what the Co-Chairs saw as the major threats to human security, and what the Commission would do to make sure its work was integrated into the work of international organizations and that it didn’t just produce “another report”.

Mrs. Ogata said she absolutely didn’t want just another report.  She noted that small-arms transfers had killed a lot of people.  Insecure situations often continued so long that people no longer had adequate health care, and infectious diseases, among others, became a problem.  Conflict situations brought complexly linked problems to the lives of the people –- that fact could be brought much more into the open by working with a broader group of actors.  If the situation of the victims of conflict was carefully considered, it could be seen that a wider range of factors must be considered.  The world “development” must be broken down into “operationally understood and presentable concepts”.

Answering a follow-up question from the same correspondent, Mrs. Ogata said she hoped she wouldn’t get “bogged down in the politics of development”.  The Commission’s action plan should be transferred as quickly as possible to where the problems were -– it should not stay in New York.  This was why the Commission should link up much more closely with the existing organizations, as well as to the areas in need.  The process must mean more to the people and not just to the “decision-makers way up high”.

Mr. Sen said there was no way of escaping the politics of development.  He noted that in the 1984 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report it had been stated that some 86 per cent of conventional arms sold in the world were sold by the five permanent members of the Security Council, which made it somewhat difficult to expect that the Council would take a dramatically radical view on curbing such sales.  The Commission would be failing in its duty if it did not address political issues like that one. 

In conclusion, Mrs. Ogata said that the Under-Secretary-General for Special Assignments in Support of the Secretary-General's Preventive and Peacemaking Efforts, Lakhdar Brahimi -- a member of the Commission, who last fall chaired a panel which released a report on United Nations peace operations -- had strongly advised that the sense of ownership of the process must be moved from the Commissioners to the people on the ground.

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