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International Symposium on Human Security
"Human Security - Its Role in an Era of Various Threats to the International Community"

(February 25, 2003)

Presentation

Session 3: Theory and practice
Panelist: Kaoru Ishikawa, Director-General, Multilateral Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

First of all, I would like to express my appreciation for providing me with such a great opportunity. I was very interested in hearing the opinions of the co-chairs, Mrs. Ogata and Professor Sen as well as the commissioners. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the members of the commission for finalizing the report.

We strongly recognize that the concept of human security needs to be put into action. In order to implement this, we believe there are two actions that need to be taken. The first action is to pervade the philosophy of human security both in Japan and in the international community and to gain understanding. Secondly, we should continue to accumulate concrete examples based on human security. In the second session, there were active discussions on education and health. In the first session, the concept itself was referred to as people-centered. As Mr. Yamamoto mentioned earlier, the Japanese government under previous to current prime ministers, Mr. Obuchi, Mr. Mori, and Mr. Koizumi, has placed human security in its mindset.

I would like to introduce a case of recently held large-scale international meeting. Please look at Figure 1.[PDF] This is the conceptual framework that we created for the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa last year from the end of August to the beginning of September. Some of you may have seen this figure on the website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As you have noticed, we have set "peace, security and good governance" as a prerequisite. "Peace, security and good governance" enable each individual in the society to think that "tomorrow can be better than today." "Hope" is a key. Thus, we need predictability towards the future, or predictability to consider whether we should sow the seeds next spring or not.

Moreover, political participation, that is, democracy as well as economic participation, or, market economy in a broad sense, should be realized. Lastly, culture of conflict prevention, which Secretary these three P's - predictability, participation, prevention - hope will be generated, then education, which is the investment towards the future, becomes possible, and treating health problems, which is investment to the health of yourself, friends and family, can be realized. You will then be able to afford to treat your partner affectionately and this will lead to gender equality.

Furthermore, information technology will help people obtain information and think on their own. At the same time, information technology will enable people to transmit their own thoughts and their own culture to the outside world. Through these efforts, I believe that the capacity building of each person will be realized. This is called "empowerment." Then, "ownership" which means standing on your own feet in development terms, will be realized. In a sense, I think this will play a significant role in a "people-centered" concept of human security.

Now, the report on human security is completed and will be submitted to Prime Minister Koizumi tomorrow by the two co-chairs, Mrs. Ogata and Professor Sen. At the very beginning of this morning, the message of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was presented. I am aware that the report will also be submitted to Secretary General Annan in the near future. Against this backdrop, we will support the commissioners in launching events globally along with other activities to disseminate the concept of human security. We must gain an understanding of the press who transmit this information. I believe we need to publicize the idea of human security in a broad sense through these various activities.

I cited Johannesburg Summit to make a picture of international meetings based on a concept. We have proposed concrete actions based on the flow chart (figure 1) . [PDF] In terms of disseminating the idea of human security to the world, we would like to present the concept of human security by linking it to concrete actions in various international conferences.

Various conferences are going to be held this year. It depends on types of conference that how we link human security to the theme of each conference. The Third World Water Forum will be held in Kyoto in March. We may have to consider how to take this issue up in the G8 Summit being held annually. TICAD III - The Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development is scheduled in the fall. In those occasions, we are aiming to promote human security. We would like to push our efforts forward by taking initiative under such circumstances.

Now, taking actions requires cooperation and financial support. It would be quite important that 190 nations in the world substantiate the state budget to promote their respective domestic policies by disseminating this idea. It would be also important that international cooperation complement the insufficiency arising from each nation's effort. In this context, we are determined to implement concrete actions with cooperation among international organizations, civil society, and governments by systematically utilizing two tools. One is "grassroots/human security grant aid," currently under deliberation in the Diet, which Mr. Takemi referred to previously. The other is the Trust Fund for human security which the Japanese government established in the United Nations four years ago and has been contributing to since then.

In conclusion, responding to a question from the floor, let me explain what the role of the United Nations is by using the chart I made (Figure 2) . This is one index of the table of content of global issues but this is not an exhaustive list. I might state that the United Nations is extremely important in connecting the functions, activities, expertise and experiences with our human resources, wisdom, and leadership even further and in materializing the concept of human security. I would like to add that the Trust Fund for Human Security which I mentioned earlier is supporting the projects which organizations in the UN system implement based on the concept of human security.

I have much more to say about concrete actions but for the time constraint, I would like to conclude my presentation. Thank you very much for your kind attention.