The study deals with the external threats to human security in Kenya with reference to the conflict in Somalia. The central question of the study is whether the Kenyan government’s conceptualization and response to the human security challenges resulting from the conflict in Somalia is resolving the human security challenges in Kenya. At a theoretical level the research explores the concept of human security and how it is conceptualized in Kenya. At a practical level the paper assesses the conflict in Somalia, the human security challenges that have resulted in Kenya due to the conflict in Somalia and the government’s conceptualization of and response to the threats. The main finding of the study reflected that Kenya’s response to the conflict in Somalia and the human security threats emanating from the conflict were dependent on the security interests of the state and determined by the intensity of threats emanating from Somalia at different times. While some positive outcomes were realised, the state’s aggressive approach towards the conflict in Somalia, through military intervention and counter terrorism efforts, outweighed the good. The failure to also adequately implement policies and manage refugee affairs created human insecurity in the rural areas that affected the access to basic needs, while the urban areas were plagued with issues of ethnic profiling, human rights violations and the marginalisation of the Kenyan Muslim community. While state security was prioritised, the core of Kenya’s main strategies created more human insecurity rather than offering solutions towards acquiring human security. / Mini Dissertation (MSS)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Political Sciences / Unrestricted

Yes / The context in Mali has changed considerably in the last few years. Progress on poverty eradication, growth and democratization was stalled as conflict erupted in 2012 but resumed in 2013 and is now slowly getting back on track. A preliminary agreement was signed in 2013 setting the frame for peace talks that are still on-going with Algeria as chief mediator. In spite of these negotiations, violent clashes and attacks by armed groups continue in the northern regions of the country. The post-conflict setting in Mali has created new challenges for the Swedish development cooperation portfolio.

Matching unfamiliar faces is known to be a very difficult task. Yet, despite this, we frequently rely on this method to verify people's identity in high security situations, such as at the airport. Because of such security implications, recent research has focussed on investigating methods to improve our ability to match unfamiliar faces. This has involved methods for improving the document itself, such that photographic-ID presents a better representation of an individual, or training matchers to be better at the task. However, to date, no method has demonstrated significant improvements that would allow the technique to be put into practice in the real world. The experiments in this thesis therefore further explore methods to improve unfamiliar face matching. In the first two chapters both variability and feedback are examined to determine if these previously used techniques do produce reliable improvements. Results show that variability is only of use when training to learn a specific identity, and feedback only leads to improvements when the task is difficult. In the final chapter, collaboration is explored as a new method for improving unfamiliar face matching in general. Asking two people to perform the task together did produce consistent accuracy improvements, and importantly, also demonstrated individual training benefits. Overall, the results further demonstrate that unfamiliar face matching is difficult, and although finding methods to improve this is not straightforward, collaboration does appear to be successful and worth exploring further. The findings are discussed in relation to previous attempts at improving unfamiliar face matching, and the effect these may have on real world applications.

Student Number : 0420490D - MMPP dissertation - School of Commerce, Law and Management - Faculty of Public and Development Management / “HIV and Human Security in South Africa” explores the multiple dimensions of a fascinating individual, medical, economic, political and social epidemic. Its main question, what are the responsibilities of individuals, business and government in providing human security in the face of HIV AND AIDS in South Africa? developed out of the author’s watch and work in various communities and corporations in South Africa. The premise of “HIV and Human Security in South Africa” is one of sanctity. The sanctity of an individual is based on an inherent worth and includes the means for the development of dignity of each medically, economically, politically and socially. This human sanctity then proposes the foundation of human security, the individual freedom, medical care, economic opportunity, political stability and social cohesion that allows the actualization of that human sanctity. Human security is a precondition of the development of dignity, as without its protection the former is not possible. As such, viral infection, economic inequity, political instability and social unrest are all among the dire threats to human security and therefore to human sanctity. HIV and AIDS is such a threat. In fact, though primarily a virus that infects and afflicts individuals, it is a pandemic affecting medical, economic, political and social arenas. The plight unleashed on human security and human sanctity by HIV AND AIDS is particularly acute in South Africa, the nation with the highest number of infected, and therefore affected, persons in the world. Caught between the local needs and global pressures to address the pandemic, South Africa is in dire straits to secure the medical treatment, economic growth, political will, and social support to contain and combat HIV AND AIDS. The various angles of this argument are illustrated by a number of critical actors: Professor Ruben Sher, the first doctor to identify and to treat the virus in South Africa; Dr Lynne Webber, virologist at Lancet Laboratories and particularly involved in the upcoming wave of anti-viral drug resistance and in HIV and AIDS as a security threat; Mr. Christopher Whitfield, General Manager of Lilly South Africa; Prof. Eric Buch, health policy specialist at the University of Pretoria and NEPAD; Ms. Gillian Gresak, HIV AND AIDS manager at AngloPlatinum; and Mr. Fanyana Shiburi, policy director in corporate affairs at DaimlerChrysler South Africa. Each of these individuals, alone and through their respective organizations, shed light on the links between HIV AND AIDS as an individual virus, as well as on the challenges and opportunities the pandemic poses to medical care, economic growth, political stability and society. Throughout, the HIV and AIDS epidemic emerges as a crisis of culpability and responsibility. In other words, it is and remains a virus of individual infection with a ripple effect of affliction. It therefore demands a response from individuals, medical personnel, economic actors, entrepreneurs and investors, political leaders and policy strategists, and social and community activists to address the range of needs that it inflicts. It is in addressing these needs that the critical components of human security come to the fore, in order to facilitate the development of dignity of human sanctity.

This thesis examines two proposals, Särskilda åtgärder vid allvarlig fara för den allmänna ordningen och inre säkerheten i landet (2015/16:67) och Tillfälliga begränsningar av möjligheten att få uppehållstillstånd (2015/16:174), in light of the concept of securitization, and analyze the effects the resulting provisions to the law and the government bill may have on displaced people. The theoretical framework used for analysis is primarily the theory of securitization in international relations and secondarily the perspective of human security. The analysis of the proposals shows that the Swedish Government considers the inflow of a high amount of asylum seekers as a threat to national security, and the special measures are in need to ensure public order and national internal security. This points to the fact that asylum seekers it to be considered as securitized. Additionally the proposals confirms that asylum seekers is to be seen as a security issue threatening specific societal structures. Hence the need of id-checks. The proposed legislation concerning limiting residence permits is viewed, both from a majority of the national consultative bodies and the Government itself, as affecting asylum seekers in various negative ways. The conclusion of the analysis is that the combination of legislating identity checks and proposing legislation to limit residence permits indicates a more significant shift in Sweden's migration policy than has been evident in the public sphere. Policies has gradually changed from defending rights and guarding safety for fleeing human beings to primarily focus on protecting the nation and guarding the citizens. Furthermore, this study accentuates a previously obscure phenomenon in Swedish migration policy. A Swedish government has proposed legislation based on protecting the Swedish society from severe threats from people in need of security and protection, which the Swedish parliament has passed as a law.

Drug war has become a global issue that is affecting the whole population. One country that has been especially affected is Mexico. There are more than 120 million people living in Mexico and only in 2007 and 2008 more than eight thousand were assassinated in relation to drug conflicts, including over 500 police officers. Kidnapping has also increased enormously.  Since The Human Security aspect is taking more and more space on the international agenda, it has been chosen as a theoretical framework for this study.   In order to answer the research question, which is to what extent the Mexican government has taken human security principles into account in the war against the drug cartels, a case study method has been used. Focus of the study is the aspect of human security and antidrug policies in Mexico, between 2004 and 2010.   The results of this study show that there is a lack of Human Security Principles in the Mexican strategy to fight the drug cartels. During Felipe’s Calderon president mandate the power has been given to the military forces, excluding the police from the governmental actions. Civilians rights and threats to their personal security has been forgotten and that had led to many violations of human rights.

Armed conflict in Ituri since 1996 to the present day has resulted in the widespread and severe violation of human rights that include massive killings, rape, torture, mutilation and property destruction that has infringed peace and security in the province. Many studies on Ituri armed conflict point out land, minerals and identity as underlying causes of this social breakdown that lead to continued insecurity in Ituri. While acknowledging that there are many things that threaten the lives of individuals in times of war, this study focuses exclusively on the perceptions of the people from Ituri about the meaning and threats to peace and security as well as building human security in the province. To investigate these perceptions, I use the concept of human security which is a new way of thinking about peace and security. Although, this concept has a broad meaning, I mostly focus on its components that promote the protection of civilians against severe and widespread threats and as a people-centred approach, it advocates for the responsibility to protect civilians by their governments and the international community while the latter is given the full mandate by the UN, through its Security Council to intervene in countries whereby, governments are the perpetrators of violence on its own civilians or whereby governments are unable to contain violence perpetrated by warring fractions on innocent civilians and causing the displacement of millions from their home. I used a qualitative approach that sought to obtain as many as possible the views of participants which in turn were described thoroughfully so as to obtain patterns and themes that explain exactly what participants think is the meaning of peace and security and what could be the possible threats that make them feel insecure. To reach my goal, I used participant observation, focus group and semi-structured interview methods. 105 participants were selected randomly to participate in the research, that is, 94 in focus groups and 11 in semi-structured interviews. An additional 31 participants were also interviewed in Johannesburg to validate the data collected previously. Content analysis was used to analyse data. The study finds that there are various meanings to security and that threats to peace and security depend on the kind of meanings that people from Ituri perceive to be the meaning of security. The meaning of security depends on the context in which people live. Both victims and perpetrators ‘should’ work towards the achievement of peace and security. From the findings, it was concluded that the international community should not play both arsonist and fireman roles, rather engaging honestly and sincerely in building peace and security in the province of Ituri. This may lead to sustainable peace and security in the province. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

Human security was promoted in 1994 by the UNDP as a concept embracing not only freedom from war and violence (or personal security), but also embracing individual�s basic needs for (and rights to) economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, community security and political security. Following this formulation, the concept has been subject to considerable scrutiny particularly in the context of state centric security studies. Extending the concept of security beyond the state to the individual appeared problematic, especially as the mechanisms designed to maintain and restore world peace are state based. However, the post-cold war environment has required a renewed interest in conflict resolution and in this context, human security as personal security has achieved political and analytical acceptance, particularly in the UN sponsored Human Security Report. What then of the second dimension of human security as freedom from want expressed by the UNDP in terms of basic needs and rights? Debate on this aspect of the UNDP definition foundered on several fronts. As well as being outside the traditional security framework, many argued that it was too broad to be analytically useful; others that it added nothing to human rights and human development which appeared to address precisely the same issues. Thus, while the concept of human security has found acceptance by those advocating with humanitarian approaches to conflict resolution and prevention, few have addressed the actual relationship, if any, between human security and development at the local level where people are most vulnerable to insecurity and where human security or its absence is most felt. This thesis addresses this gap through a study of human security in Cambodia, where people have experienced, at different times, the full range of human insecurities detailed by the UNDP. It shows that the human insecurity of Cambodians has been in large part a consequence of the security policies and military engagements of external powers. Human security and international relations are inextricably linked. Cambodia�s post-conflict reconstruction, rehabilitation and development strategies have also been strongly influenced by international forces through development assistance programmes. Despite this aid, Cambodia�s performance in health, education, justice, employment and poverty alleviation has been poor and leaves many rural people with uncertain futures and their human security threatened. Various authors have suggested that human security might be guaranteed by the state, the rule of law, democratisation, governance, human rights or human development. Based on qualitative fieldwork, the thesis argues that governance � especially the way in which state institutions deliver services to the people at the local or �grass roots� level � is key to assuring human security. It further argues that through development assistance policies and practices, global governance institutions have a significant influence on national and local governance processes. The thesis concludes that, if accepted by the UN Security Council, global governance and international development assistance agencies, human security can be a bridge uniting them all in the common pursuit of individual security and wellbeing with benefit for state, regional and global security.

Terrorism emerged in northern Mozambique in 2017 and is ostensibly attributed to Muslim militants. The first attacks occurred on 5 October 2017 in Mocimboa da Praia town in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado. The group known as ‘Ansar al-Sunnah’ or ‘Al-Shabaab’ appears to be inspired by international terrorist clerics and followers, specifically from Tanzania, such as Sheik Aboud Rogo. These individuals share similar aspirations, including the rejection of Western education and the establishment of Sharia law. The Islamic State Central Africa Province has claimed responsibility for the attacks. This was the first spate of attacks since the guerrilla offensive during the anti-colonial war in the 1960s, as well as attacks by Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO) members during the Mozambican civil war. Since October 2017, 900 people have been killed and by 21 March 2020, over 80 attacks and 100 deaths had occurred. The aim of this research paper was to account for the re-emergence of terrorism in northern Mozambique, through the relationship of at least two causal factors. The research problem was that most of the literature on terrorism presents a one-sided explanation to account for its cause; the focus is on armed groups or their militants, while ignoring the many ways in which states (through governance, in particular) can influence the re-emergence of terrorism. The two key components of the re-emergence of terrorism in northern Mozambique — an enabling environment and the northern Mozambicans’ history of conflict and specifically terrorism — therefore show that literature centred on single religious and socio-economic causes of terrorism is discredited. The re-emergence of terrorism in northern Mozambique challenges the explanation that terrorism is attributed to a single cause. This research identified a gap in the literature. It pertained to the state’s role in facilitating and/or providing the breeding ground or enabling environment for terrorism. This research’s argument was twofold. Firstly, terrorism is not attributed to a single causal factor. Secondly, ignoring the state’s role in providing a breeding ground for terrorism is problematic. Therefore, the re-emergence of terrorism in northern Mozambique is likely to stem from the state’s inability to secure its people adequately, providing personal, community, political and economic security through effective governance practices. This research argued that when governments are ineffective in the provision of basic security and economic needs for their citizenry, ‘basic human insecurity’ is a result and thus contributes to the re-emergence of terrorism. Ultimately, poor governance, poor economic development, corruption and lack of human rights are ‘push factors’ towards terrorism. The locals are left feeling discontented and marginalised by government, which creates grievances as a stepping-stone towards terrorism in the north. Ultimately, the culmination of a history of conflict (including specifically terrorism), poor governance practices, and the influence of regional militants not only creates an insecure environment in the north, but establishes the region as an enabling environment for terrorism. / Mini Dissertation (MA (Security Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Political Sciences / MA (Security Studies) / Unrestricted

A decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses over the past decade? The Human Security Report 2005 uncovers surprising trends in global conflict.