Human Security

While states and international organizations are among the relevant actors at the center of international politics, the security of individuals must equally be discussed and guaranteed. With its Human Security Program the Munich Security Conference brings together actors and decision makers from different sectors to facilitate a debate on health, humanitarian, and other non-traditional security challenges to people’s well-being and livelihoods.

About the Human Security Program

To reflect the complex international security landscape, all of activities of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) are guided by five program areas: Defense, Global Order, Human Security, Sustainability, and Technology. These programs address both conventional issues as well as emerging security concerns and offer the intellectual backbone to all our events and publications. For all five program areas, the MSC is working with renowned partners from around the world.

A human security perspective places the individual at the center of global security policy. It focuses on non-traditional security challenges to people’s well-being and livelihoods such as their access to resources, including food, water, health services, and education, their individual and collective rights, and their developmental prospects. A human security lens includes the perspectives of marginalized groups, and civil society, which proves pivotal for advancing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Neglecting these factors of human security can stall or even reverse progress, exacerbate fragility, and fuel conflict – with regional and global repercussions. To foster human security, holistic and integrated approaches are required. These need to bring together diverse stakeholders from government, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector are required.

With its Human Security Program, the MSC aims to advance the debate around the protection of the world’s most vulnerable people and the nexus between individual and collective security. To that end, MSC events, publications, and initiatives like the Food Security Task Force aim to facilitate exchanges between decision-makers and experts at the highest level.

Publications

Topics from the Human Security Program are regularly covered in the annual Munich Security Report (MSR). Additionally, the MSC regularly publishes Munich Security Briefs and MSR Special Editions on human security issues, most recently "Polypandemic", a special edition on development, fragility, and conflict in the era of Covid-19.

Munich Security Report Special Edition: Polypandemic

Bibliographic data: Sophie Eisentraut, Luca Miehe, Laura Hartmann, Juliane Kabus, “Polypandemic: Special Edition of the Munich Security Report,” Munich: Munich Security Conference, November 2020, https://doi.org/10.47342/CJAO3231.

Summits, Roundtables, and other Activities

At the annual flagship conference in Munich, human security topics are regularly the focus of panel discussions and a growing number of side events.

Additionally, as part of the Human Security Program, the MSC organizes numerous events, which vary in scope and size.

MSC Summits assemble an audience of up to 100 high-profile representatives from government, academia, the military, the private sector and civil society for 24 to 48 hours of open and frank debates with a particular thematic focus. MSC Summits are held on-the-record or under Chatham House rule.

MSC Roundtables bring together an intimate group of up to 35 participants for an interactive debate on a specific security policy challenge. Roundtables are held under Chatham House rule or off-the-record and take place throughout the year, frequently alongside other MSC events, such as the Munich Leaders Meetings and the Munich Security Conference.

MSC Conversations are small, confidential meetings featuring a selected high-level speaker and a group of up to 40 participants, including senior experts, thinkers, and decision-makers. MSC Conversations are typically held under Chatham House rule, but selected events can be open to the public.

Past Events

Virtual Roundtable on Global Health Security with Focus on Pandemic Preparedness and Response

Titled "Beyond Covid-19: How to be Best Prepared for the Next Global Pandemic," the Munich Security Conference (MSC) organized a virtual Roundtable on Global Health Security on December 14, 2021. MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger opened the event, emphasizing the importance of investments to address the current Covid-19 pandemic as well as to better prepare against future public health threats. In this regard, Germany would be in the driving seat with its upcoming G7 presidency in 2022.

Following Ambassador Ischinger's remarks, Wendy Morton, Minister for Europe and Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and Miguel Berger, State Secretary in the Federal Foreign Office gave brief statements.

Summary

Related Content

Sustainability

The Sustainability Program aims to advance the debate around the intersections of governance, the environment, security, and prosperity. To that end, MSC events and initiatives facilitate…

More

Defense

Transatlantic security policy and European defense are among the core topics of the Munich Security Conference. With the Defense Program, the MSC aims to initiate debates on these and other…

More

Global Order

Global politics finds itself at the turn of an era, characterized by a changing global distribution of power and the weakening of international institutions. The Global Order Program aims at…

More