'We bring people and politics together in order to improve citizens' safety'

Organisation: IKV Pax Christi
Project: ‘Human Security from below'

Bottom up

Human Security is a modern term when we speak of war zones. It is always about how the international community can provide safety. IKV Pax Christi has a different approach to areas in conflict. 'We work from the bottom up,' says Jannie Kuik of IKV Pax Christi concerning their innovative project 'Human Security from below'.

'In a situation in which people have no safety, they go in search of ways of protecting themselves,' explains Kuik. 'Some may, for example, hire armed guards or they stay with family, members of their religious community or tribe because those are the only people they can trust.'

Safety zones

But there is more. 'Safety zones are created in war zones. These can take on very unpleasant forms. This should first and foremost be looked at from the perspective of the need for safety. By asking ourselves: what is the situation like on the ground?, how do people protect themselves?, we can get to know their reality. Only then will it become clear how we can help these people.'

By working in this way, IKV Pax Christi finds out what it is that people really need. But why should ‘Human Security' win the Award? Kuik: 'We focus on people living in unsafe situations. We examine how they have organised their own safety. Together, we subsequently try to bring this reality up in international politics.'

Focus

For example, focusing on ‘Human Security from below' in Iraq it became clear that academics in particular were some of the first to suffer in the closed security zones. Kuik: 'Academics need academic freedom. They are some of the first people who are unable to function if they are closed off from their own group. They are also often threatened. The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, which we cooperate with in this field, has now started the ‘Academic Freedom' project as a follow up.'

Kuik sees another reason why ‘Human Security from below' should win the prize. Human Security is important and necessary, but it means nothing if politicians and NGOs do not learn from it. Kuik: 'By focusing on the reality on the ground in these unsafe situations, we understand more about the phase a conflict is in and we learn to see what is and isn't useful to do at that stage. This allows us to work much more efficiently.'