Human Security (Issues of Migration and Health) Lecture

Lecture 11

Human security

a broadened concept of security that includes the protection of individuals from systematic violence, environmental degradation, and health disasters

UNGA Resolution A/RES/66/290 (2012)

• First time agreed on definition of human security

• Said: “All individuals, in particular vulnerable people, are entitled to freedom from fear and freedom from want, with an equal opportunity to enjoy all their rights and fully develop their human potential.”

Migrant

a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons

• Emigrant = leaving

• Immigrant = entering

Over 300 million people around the world live outside their country of birth

Sources of migration (emigrants)

#1 sending country = India

#2 China

#3 Mexico

#4 Ukraine

#5 Russia

Receivers of migrations (immigrants)

#1 destination = US

#2 Germany

#3 Saudi Arabia

#4 UK

#5 France

Total migration number in the world has

increased significantly since 1960s

Refugee

a person who, because of a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)

• 1951 treated directed to European refugees bc of WW2

• 1957 became to countries became subject to this treaty

• Made universal in 1967

• Right of “non-refoulement.”

Non-refoulement

cannot be forced to return to their home country

• requires evidence of individual persecution

• (Lots of ppl don’t fit into the individual persecution, so they can’t have non-refoulement)

  
  

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

responsible for protecting refugees until they are granted asylum or return home

• helps protect refugees and helps solve their problems

• ensures refugees have the right to seek asylum

• helps with stateless people, people who don’t have rights in their home country

• or helps with individuals displaced in their own country or other countries

Mandate for body came back after WW2, and became permanent in 2003

Global Compact on Refugees (2018)

• focuses on international cooperation

• not legally binding

• recognized that some states are more “overwhelmed” than other with migration → wanted to help

• created Global Refugee Forum (GRF)

GRF (Global Refugee Forum)

• come together every 4 years to help in any way they can to help refugees

• states come together to work on refugee issues

Other Types of Migrants

• Asylum seekers

• Internally displaced persons (IDPs)

• Economic migrants

• Climate migrants

Asylum seekers

a more general term for those who have applied for protection in another country.

→ term for those before legally recognized as a refugee (refugees are a subset of “asylum seekers”)

→ also includes those who do not get labeled refugees

Internally displaced persons (IDPs)

individuals uprooted from home but remain in home country

Economic migrants

people feeling from poverty, unemployment, and/or poor economic prospects

Climate migrants

people fleeing effects of climate change

• storms, deserted situations, extreme weather conditions

Forcibly Displaced Peoples in Numbers

(All migrants in general are called “forcibly displaced people”)

• 117.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide

• 73.5 million are internally displaced

• 36.4 million are refugees

• 8.4 million are asylum seekers

• 6.1 million are other people in need of international protection

Origin of Forcibly Displaced People

Region of origin

1. Middle East and North Africa

2. Eastern and Southern Africa

3. The Americas

4. Asia and the Pacific

5. Europe

6. West and Central Africa

Country of origin (top 10)

1. Sudan

2. Syrian Arab Rep

3. Afghanistan

4. Ukraine

5. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

6. Colombia

7. State of Palestine

8. Dem. Rep. of the Congo

9. Myanmar

10. Yemen

Destination for Asylum

Region of Asylum:

1. Middle East and North Africa

2. The Americas

3. Eastern and Southern Africa

4. Europe

5. Asia and the Pacific

6. West and Central Africa

Country of Asylum (top 10)

1. Sudan

2. Colombia

3. Syrian Arab Rep.

4. Dem. Rep. of the Congo

5. Yemen

6. Afghanistan

7. Ukraine

8. Nigeria

9. USA

10. Myanmar

→ Fleeing in countries of middle east and africa, but flee inside the country

→ Lot of people in sudan are internally displaced, to and from their own country to seek asylum

The “Protection Gap”

All asylum seekers (for various reasons above) are looking for protection in new country

→ BUT: only refugees entitled to protection under international law

• Protection gap due to refugees and other asylum seekers have different rights, only refugees actually get the rights under international law of non-refoulement. Not asylum seekers get that label, they just stay as asylum seekers.

• “Refugee” label determined for asylum seekers after asylum protection applied for in host country

2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration

• first UN agreement on international migration in all dimensions

• not legally binding

• Does not bestow legal status on non-refugee migrants, but says humanitarian assistance should be provided

• Doesn’t give any legal rights to asylum seekers, however, it is a political agreement to try to help them in other ways like humanitarian assistance

• Would work to make (political commitment) to not detain migrants (last resort), and not have any discrimination against migrants

  
  

Rohingya in Myanmar (example)

come back to this flash card ts so long

Realist Perspective on Migration

• focus on obligation to protect state from external threats

• when migrants STATE threaten security, state obligated to halt resettlement

(Think migrants coming in are engaging criminal activity, or citizens will lose their jobs)

→ even if ratified international treaty

→ SECURITY first!

Liberal Perspective on Migration

• Focus on need for international cooperation and action

• Think it is a transnational issue and need help from other states

• Focus on domestic politics and domestic constraints

• “Bottom-up” liberal view: groups within state can influence state preferences & policies regarding migrants

(e.g., President Trump’s building of the wall)

Constructivists Perspective on Migration

• focus on the identity issue

• focus on role of socially constructed identities

• Mutual recognition of (artificial) national borders leads to an “us” and a “them”

Hence a refugee “crisis”

Health Issues→

switch of topicssss free card! you got this!

1851 (health)

First International Sanitary Conference

• 11 ad hoc international sanitary conferences from 1851 to 1903

1948: World Health Organization (permanent instead of ad hoc)

• Currently: 194 members (US withdrew in 2026)

• Mandate: to promote global health

• Early goal: fight to contain/eradicate communicable (transmissible) diseases

• →1955: malaria eradication program

• →1965: small pox vaccination program

• →Following smallpox success: tackled polio, cholera, measles

• BUT some preventable diseases recently making resurgence

• Has taken up noncommunicable diseases more recently too (heart conditions, cancer, etc)

• Other obligations:

WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHRs)

• Originally, gov’ts required states to report outbreaks

• → BUT: not legally bound & only gov’ts received reports

Modified 2007: now obligates gov’ts to report new outbreaks within 24 hours and to permit WHO to publicize the outbreak

• NOTE: not followed by China in outbreak of Covid-19

WHO Pandemic Agreement (adopted May 2025)

• is to prevent pandemic from happening again in many ways

• will be legally binding (once ratified and enters into force)

• designed to strengthen global collaboration in pandemic prevention, preparedness, & response

aims:

- strengthen disease surveillance & health systems

- safeguard health and care workforce

- coordinate R&D

- improving local production capacity, including through technology transfer

- improve communication with the public

- stronger international cooperation

- sustainable financing

• does NOT give WHO authority to impose lockdowns or vaccine mandates on any country

WHO Pandemic Agreement (cont’d)

• Creates Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network —

- aim = ensure pandemic-related health products distributed rapidly and equitably

• currently negotiating Annex to create Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system

aim =

→ ensure rapid and timely sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential

→ rapid, timely, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the sharing and/or utilization of these materials

• Once Annex negotiated, treaty will open for signature/ ratification

Health Issues in Developed vs. Developing Countries (Mortality Causes)

• Infectious diseases are what kill most in developing countries (communicable diseases)

• Developed countries have way more deaths in noncommunicable (heart conditions, cancer)

Child Mortality in Developed vs Developing Countries

• MOST deaths in low-income countries (goes from low to high)

• Rates have declined by 50% since 1990

- BUT: trend has stagnated in last decade

• In 2020: 5 million children under 5 died

- 80% in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

- mostly from preventable and treatable causes

• global under-5 mortality rate fell to 37 deaths per 1000 live births in 2020

- children in sub-saharan have highest mortality in the world: 74 deaths per 1000 live births

- 14x higher than the risk for children in Europe and North America

• leading cause of death in children under 5:

• Diarrhea, respiratory infections (pneumonia), malnutrition

• all could be prevented/treated with interventions in health and sanitation

WHO works to address these issues

• WHO is trying to work on this (sanitation issues) to help this not happen again

•  the causes were treatable or preventable with interventions or sanitations

WHO Budget:

U.S. was #1 in contributions for WHO in 2020s, but withdrew 2026

• All contributions U.S. is gone now, which is causing major decrease in ability to carry out its mission

The Perspectives and Health

• Quintessential functionalist issue (a problem that cannot be solved by a single nation-state alone and requires international collaboration based on shared technical, social, or economic needs rather than political power struggles)

Realists:

• Health issues can be an immediate “threat” to national security

• Other security threats might be seen as more important than long-term health issues

Liberals:

• Need for international cooperation

• Role of domestic politics

Constructivists:

• Rhetoric matters: immediate threat v. long-term prevention