Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday 10 September 2024 – The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has published a new toolkit designed to equip parliamentarians worldwide with innovative approaches to address conflict and promote peace. Human security and common security to build peace offers a comprehensive guide for legislators to tackle security challenges both domestically and internationally.
Conflicts on the rise
The 2024 Global Peace Index, a leading measure of global peacefulness, reports that the world is seeing the highest number of countries engaged in conflict since World War II.
The toolkit points out that wars and conflicts are increasingly complex, involving multiple parties and geopolitical competition. They are often fuelled by criminal activity and the spread of disinformation on social media, amplified by artificial intelligence.
New approaches for MPs
The toolkit proposes two alternative approaches to decision-making for parliamentarians.
Human security: This people-centred approach focuses on contextualized, tailored legislation that prioritizes individual well-being across multiple dimensions, including personal, food and health security.
Common security: Building on human security principles, this approach emphasizes dialogue, multilateralism and international collaboration to solve problems on a larger scale.
Both approaches are grounded in the understanding that security is multifaceted, interconnected and deeply rooted in the well-being of individuals, and that a nation’s security is enhanced when neighbouring countries also feel secure.
Global success stories
The toolkit highlights case studies from countries as diverse as Costa Rica, Mongolia, Nigeria and Vanuatu, demonstrating the tangible benefits of applying human security and common security approaches to conflict prevention efforts.
The toolkit also outlines how parliamentarians can integrate these approaches into their legislative, oversight, budgetary, representational and parliamentary diplomacy functions.
Launch
The toolkit will be launched during an online panel discussion, Peace and democracy: Can ballots replace bullets?, on Tuesday, 17 September 2024, from 15:00 to 16:30 (CEST/Geneva time). The event aims to bridge the International Day of Democracy (15 September) and the International Day of Peace (21 September).
The IPU is the global organization of national parliaments. It was founded more than 130 years ago as the first multilateral political organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. Today, the IPU comprises 180 national Member Parliaments and 15 regional parliamentary bodies. It promotes democracy and helps parliaments develop into stronger, younger, greener, more gender-balanced and more innovative institutions. It also defends the human rights of parliamentarians through a dedicated committee made up of MPs from around the world.
