Human security as the link between humanitarian action and peacebuilding

Abstract

Humanitarian action is a needs-based emergency response aimed at preserving life, preventing and alleviating human suffering and maintaining human dignity. Peacebuilding, on the other hand, is to be understood, according to the United Nations, as a comprehensive and integrated strategy that encompasses a wide range of political, developmental, humanitarian and human rights programmes and mechanisms. This chapter underlines that in armed conflict and post-conflict settings the goal of both, should be human security: the protection and empowerment of people. It highlights one aspect of humanitarian action’s contribution to peacebuilding which has been largely overlooked: the development of the protection agenda. The inclusion of protection as one of the pillars of humanitarian action means that humanitarian work should focus on those particularly vulnerable, such as internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, as will be shown, peacebuilding and the liberal peace project do not prioritise human security. Moreover the relationship between humanitarian action and peacebuilding undergoes many tensions and challenges.