An urgency to redefine ‘security’ in a different light emerged after the end of the cold war. Individuals have become the focal point while discussing security concerns. The Copenhagen School categorized various other unconventional threats as security threats, including individual well being. I firmly believe that things have changed even more after the millennia. For me new security challenges pertaining to wellbeing of humans includes health issues (physical as well as mental), literacy rate, standard of living etc.
The following highlight various dimensions of challenges to human welfare that need to be looked into seriously.
Health issues-(data from the WTO database)
- In 2001, 1 out of 6 children were estimated to be underweight in the developing nations. This combined with a large population, means that most underweight children (56 million) live in South-central Asia. Though the trend is falling, the progress is too slow.
- Since its inception, 70 million people have been affected by AIDS and 35 million have died.
- It is surveyed that malaria occurs in 99 countries. Alone in 2010, 150,000 people died of malaria.
- 783 million people still do not have access to clean drinking water.
Looking at the alarming death rates due to various diseases, it seems more viable to look at them as major security concerns than any other issues. It is almost shocking looking at the increasing rate of heart diseases, diabetes, high-blood pressure and other kinds of diseases which have skyrocketed today.
Other security concerns-
• The fact that literacy determines a persons’ place in the modern world, the people who are deprived of it inevitably will create far reaching problems. Crime, social immobility, hatred and other such things are direct causes of the inequality caused by the system of hierarchy which to a large extent is determined by lack of good education.
• Approximately 1.24 million deaths occurred on the world’s roads in 2010. It would be wise for nation states to educate people more on traffic issues.
• Highly urbanized life has created even more problems. Anxiety and depression is so rampant today that people do not even realize that they are going through such conditions. A lot of people have committed suicide because of the failure to cope with the pressure of modern life.
• How mental conditions of individuals affect the entire society is evident from recent shootouts in the United States. General public have been targeted in which a lot of people have lost their lives.
• The modern economy has been structured in such a way that the ‘economic security’ is bound to be encroached. There are situations in which even a person’s best effort to earn a living does not even come close to what is required for a modest living.
• Individuals have been affected by human rights issues too. Domestic violence, child abuse, human smuggling, prostitution and other such practices are not even recognized as violation of human well-being in some cases.
Because of the fact that we live in an extremely dynamic world, security concerns keep on changing. Now that the methods of communication and transportation around the world have changed, new security challenges are bound to arise in every avenue.
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