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- What is CAHS? -
Human Security:
Empowerment and Protection
Human security means
protecting vital freedoms. It means protecting people from critical and
pervasive threats and situations, building on their strengths and
aspirations. It also means creating systems that give people the
building blocks of survival, dignity and livelihood. To do this, it
offers two general strategies: protection and empowerment. Protection
shields people from dangers. Empowerment enables people to develop their
potential and become full participants in decision-making.
- UN Commission on
Human Security (2003)
The rapid pace of
technology innovation and diffusion along with the opening up of
political systems and the expansion of global trade have created
transnational networks that provide opportunities and resources to many
people. These changes have also generated new threats and
vulnerabilities that disproportionately affect women, children and the
poorest communities on the planet.
The challenges faced by the world’s least advantaged people are often
low on national and international agendas and easily displaced by
traditional foreign policy concerns. Ignoring this growing web of
despair is unacceptable from the perspective of human rights, and
invites the intensification of global security issues such as terrorism,
human trafficking, and the spread of infectious disease. It is
imperative that we approach these problems with the best analytical
tools at hand so that we can develop the knowledge base and mobilize the
awareness and resolve needed to address them effectively.
The Coalition Advocating Human Security, a program of the University of
California, Irvine’s Center for Unconventional Security Affairs, pursues
its mission through a transnational network of academics, humanitarians,
grassroots organizations and government officials. Through this network,
CAHS undertakes research, provides education, promotes public awareness,
identifies best practices, offers evidence-based input into policy
making, and builds coalitions to address threats to human security and
identify strategies that can protect and empower the most vulnerable
individuals and communities in our world.
A partnership with the
Center for Unconventional Security Affairs
In 1998 the Global
Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) research project was
established at University of California, Irvine (UCI) by Dr. Richard
Matthew as part of an international network conducting research and
providing education on human security issues. The focus of this work was
broadened in 2003 through the creation of the Center for Unconventional
Security Affairs (CUSA), which houses GECHS. The Center addresses the
security challenges of the 21st century through innovative research and
education programs that integrate experts from the academic, public and
private sectors.
In April 2004 the Center released its first major publication, Landmines
and Human Security, brought humanitarian and activist Heather Mills
McCartney to the UCI campus to speak on this issue, and created the
Heather Mills McCartney Fellowship in Human Security to support graduate
student research. Later that year, the Center partnered with Sandi
Jackson and Susan Samueli to create the Coalition for Advocating Human
Security (CAHS).
- What does CAHS do? -
Recognize Humanitarian Leaders
through our Human Security Award
Each year CAHS hosts a Human Security Award Ceremony where we present
the Human Security Award to an individual whose actions have made a
dramatic difference in helping protect and empower the world’s most
vulnerable groups and communities. In 2004, the Award was given to
Heather Mills McCartney in
recognition of her efforts to rid the world of landmines and provide
assistance to landmine survivors. In 2005, our focus was on women and
human security and the Award was given to
Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International for her
efforts to assist women survivors of war and conflict. For the 2006
Human Security Award, CAHS has chosen to recognize
Lieutenant General the Honorable Roméo A.
Dallaire, O.C.,C.M.M.,G.O.Q.,M.S.C.,C.D., (Ret’d), Senator who
served for 35 years with the Canadian Armed Forces and was the Force
Commander of the United Nations Mission to Rwanda. General Dallaire is
recognized around the world as an experienced and principled advocate of
peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding in the world’s most
war-torn regions.
Promote Education through Fellowships for
Graduate Students
Our fellowships, awarded through an annual competition, allow graduate
students to undertake solution-oriented field research on real world
human security challenges ranging from chronic poverty through
infectious disease to political violence and terrorism. In 2004, CAHS
established The Heather Mills McCartney Graduate Fellowship in Human
Security in honor of the significant contributions to human security
issues made by Heather Mills McCartney, a patron of Adopt-A-Minefield
and a United Nations Association Goodwill Ambassador. In 2005, CAHS
established two more graduate fellowships. Graduate fellowships help to
attract top students to the University of California, Irvine, and
support their research as they develop into the next generation of
business, policy, and academic leaders. A major goal of CAHS’s public
events is to help raise funds to support graduate education.
Raise Awareness with our Human
Security Speakers Series
In addition to our Human Security Summit, CAHS sponsors a speakers
series that provides a respectful opportunity for the exchange of ideas
on pressing global issues. Views expressed are those of the speakers,
and do not necessarily represent the views of CAHS or its members.
Previous speakers in our series have included Judea and Ruth Pearl, the
parents of Daniel Pearl and the founders of the Daniel Pearl Foundation;
Baroness Caroline Cox, an international humanitarian and human rights
activist and Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords; and Lt. Gen. (Ret.)
Claudia J. Kennedy, who made history by becoming the Army's first woman
three-star general and now supports microfinance initiatives.
Undertakes Original Research on Pressing
Security Challenges
CAHS works with the Center for unconventional Security Affairs to
support and undertake innovative research on pressing real world human
security issues. Recently completed and current research projects
include a study of the social effects of landmines; a comparative study
of resource scarcity, property rights and acute violence in four
countries of South Asia; a study of the linkages between climate change
and the genocidal violence in Darfur; a study of the human security
challenges facing vulnerable women; a study of the linkages among
microfinance, sustainable development and security; and a study of
environmental peacemaking efforts.
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