Human Security: A Challenge to International Law?

The concept of human security, which emerged in the 1994 UNDP Development Report, is on its way to changing the practice and institutions of global governance. The underlying issues of human security—a focus on the individual, the waning of state sovereignty and the rise of new actors, the shift in our understanding of security, the need and risks of "saving strangers" through humanitarian intervention, the reform of the Security Council, the conduct of complex peace missions, and the adequate reaction to new threats—pose a challenge to international law. As a value-based and people-centered approach to security, human security will contribute to normative changes in the international legal order.