NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

General Assembly Focuses on Expanded Paradigm of Human Security

The General Assembly today highlighted that an expanded paradigm of human security is needed to ensure that individuals can live their lives with dignity and autonomy as the modern world faces interconnected risks.

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told the Assembly, which is holding an informal debate on human security, that recent events such as the tsunami and earthquake in Japan or the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa show that populations - whether in countries rich or poor - are as vulnerable as never before.

"That is why we need an expanded paradigm of security that encompasses a broad range of conditions threatening the survival, livelihoods and dignity of individuals." -Ms. Migiro

Ms. Migiro noted that "threats can be as sudden and unpredictable as a tsunami or they can be as protracted and unyielding as an oppressive dictatorship."

Today's debate and panel discussions, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, follow the release of a human security report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last year in which he urged governments to devise policies that are "people-centred."

Source: United Nations