Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Challenges in South Asia
By Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain
Introduction:
The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) has been in the forefront of intellectual
efforts to highlight the salience of NTS challenges facing South Asia.
Mainly through its Winter Workshop activity and Mahbub-ul-Haq Research Awards,
RCSS has sought to promote the NTS perspective among the youth in the region. Some
of the NTS themes addressed have included the following: governance in plural societies,
globalization and its impact on development and security, environment and security,
trans-border population movements and security, ethnicity and security.
Over 150 young professionals have been trained in the region through the winter
workshop programme since 1997. The last winter workshop was held in 2004 as part of
the Ford Foundation project on Democracy and Terrorism which resulted in the
publication of four books by RCSS last year. As part of its membership in NTS-Asia
Consortium RCSS would like to focus its activities on the following themes
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Disaster Risk Reduction and Management:
South Asia is among the world’s most vulnerable regions to both natural and manmade disasters. The region recorded 15 out of the 40 major disasters in the world
from 1970 to 2000. Over the last 25 years, disasters have killed nearly half a million
people in South Asia besides inflicting colossal financial damages worth US$ 59,000
million. Over 60,000 people were killed by Tsunami in India, Sri Lanka and
Maldives. The October 2005 earth quake killed at least 73,000 people and severely
injured or disabled another 70,000 and rendered 2.8 million homeless in northern
parts of Pakistan. The rehabilitation cost of 2004 Tsunami disaster for India, Sri
Lanka and Maldives is estimated to be US$ 3 billion. The overall cost associated with
the October 2005 earthquake is estimated at approximately at US$ 5.2 billion.
Although some of the South Asian countries have begun to implement strategies for
disaster mitigation or risk reduction, “there still is need for an all round paradigm
shift to proactive measures in the approach to disaster mitigation.”1
Some Initiatives: Taragram (Appropriate Technology Centre) located in the
Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh.) Oragni Pilot Project (OPP), Karachi
Pakistan, Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP), Bangladesh,
The Community Forestry Programme, Nepal), The Foundation of the Intermediate
Technology Development (ITDG) is implementing a project called – Livelihood
Options for Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia, as part of its South Asia
Programme involving India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. ITDG is
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Pardeep Sahni and Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu, Eds. Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia (New
Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited: 2003), p. ix.
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also implementing the Alternative Strategies for Community-based Flood
Preparedness in South Asia, as part of the Dip ECHO Flood Preparedness
programme. The project aims to have pilot demonstrations in three locations in
Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.
Despite these initiatives there is lot more that needs to be done to meet the challenge
of natural disasters.
-Four aspects need special attention:
-Culture of Preparedness,
-Culture of Quick Response,
-Culture of Strategic Thinking,
-Culture of Prevention.
As pointed out by MUHDC 2005 Report on Human Security:
“There is acute requirement for a South Asia Disaster Preparedness and Management
System. This system will promote regional cooperation to ensure security from
natural disasters. The very first step toward more concerted and coordinated regional
action on disaster risk reduction ought to be a clear understanding of the depth and
extent of hazard, vulnerability and disaster loss. …The system will strive for key
improvements in disaster preparedness and response with regard to the three R’s:
Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation.” (2005: 114).
Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies must be able to perform the following functions:
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Pre-Disaster (Awareness and Information Campaigns, Training of local
volunteers, Advocacy and Planning);
During Disaster (Immediate rescue and first aid and psychological help
and counseling; supply of food, water, medicine, other materials; ensuring
Sanitation and hygiene; Damage assessment);
Post Disaster (Reconstruction aid; Financial Aid; Monitoring)
2. HIV/AIDS Challenges:
Health has not traditionally been concerned a security issue, yet on 17 July 2000,
the UN Security Council passed a resolution on AIDS, stating, “if unchecked, the
HIV/AIDS pandemic may pose a risk to stability and security. A special session of
the UN General Assembly was devoted to the need for global action on HIV/AIDS in
2001. AIDS is the fourth ranking cause of death in the world, and its effects destroy
social and economic development and break down social and governance structures.
The impact of the epidemic aggravates the vulnerabilities of the weakest groups in
society including women, children and the poor. Since the detection of the first
HIV/AIDS case in South Asia in the mid-1980s, the virus has infected more than five
million people today: India (5.1 million), Pakistan (74,000), and Nepal (61,000).
South Asia today is home to the second highest number of people living with
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HIV/AIDS, around 13 per cent of the world total. The epidemic poses the greatest
threat to India that is home to 97 per cent of South Asia’s HIV/AIDS infected
population. CIA’s National Intelligence Council estimates India’s HIV/AIDS
patients’ number to grow from 5.1 million to 20 million by 2010.
3. Small Arms and Light Weapons:
Small arms and Light Weapons (SALWS) kill around 500,000 people annually
and because of this former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan described them as
“slow weapons of mass destruction.” There are many who have argued that there is a
strong correlation between the use of illegal SALW and underdevelopment.” SALWS
directly impinge on international security through transnational crime and
international terrorism. SALWS are attractive because they are easily available, low
in cost, highly portable and easy to hide. Further, since they possess legitimate
civilian, military and police uses, they are present in all societies. South Asia has
witnessed 14 ethnic conflicts in five decades. India has experienced eight, followed
by three in Pakistan, one each in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan. SAWLS have
played an important role in making these internal conflicts less manageable and more
violent.
4. International Migration:
There are many aspects of the migration-security link. According to Anioł (1992:
17) international migration impacts on international security in three distinct ways:
1) International migration can be a consequence of other security threats like human
rights violation, ethnic conflict, internal war; 2) International migration can by itself
constitute a threat to international security when it is of massive, uncontrolled character;
3) International migration can result in other security threats (e.g. xenophobia and racial
violence). According to Goodhart (2004), international migration produces social
stability risks, leads to demographic security, creates cultural identity issues and poses a
threat to social security system and welfare state philosophy and generates many internal
security challenges. In the South Asian context, illicit human trafficking especially those
of women and children has emerged as a major security issue. Due to geographical
proximity and relatively open borders, trafficking in women has become more
pronounced in South Asia. Women and girls from Bangladesh are trafficked to India,
Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE. Because of its geographical centrality, India has
emerged as a source, transit and destination country for men, women, and children
trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation. Despite the ratification of
the SAARC Convention on Trafficking in persons by all member states, the growing
trend in human trafficking persists. As noted by Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre
For Social Research, New Delhi:
“With the advent of fast paced globalization, opening up of the national economies to the
global challenges has further deepened the already existing disparities between and
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within the countries exposing women to more vulnerable situations. Increased migration
due to foreclosure of livelihood opportunities in the villages, also augment trafficking in
human beings. The violence against women is increasing in diabolic proportions. The
gender violence statistics are showing the upward curve in all countries, be it female
foeticide, rape, molestation, domestic violence or sexual assault. Trafficking is no
different. Danger of HIV/AIDS among the trafficked women, as in cases of forced
prostitution, sex slavery and other forms of sexual exploitation is making the women
more vulnerable. Increase in information and communication tools enhancing access to
media promoting sex and pornography through telephone, internet, television,
newspapers and magazines is creating a demand for sex trade. This leads to creation of
market where there is a supply of younger girls and boys for ‘tender sex’ and
‘experimental sex’. This creation of need by the sex traffickers, which is also aided by the
tacit demand created by tourism industry lobby, is encouraging more women to enter into
sex trade. These four mega trends are creating a further demand for trafficking and more
and more vulnerable women and young boys and getting drawn into the organized
criminal nexus of human traffickers engaged in transnational trade.” (2006: 2).
5. Environmental Security:
The significance of environmental security (ES) extends far beyond the environmental
sector as such. ES covers a wide range of subjects: Water scarcity, Air Pollution, Energy
security, Deforestation, Natural and man-made disasters, Environment sustainability for
meeting The Millennium Development Goals. Environmental degradation, resource
depletion and natural disasters have direct implications for the security of individual
States, group of States and of the international community as a whole. The impacts of
environmental damage can pose a threat to either global security or to regional security.
At the regional level, security may be threatened as a result of the unsustainable use of
shared natural resources, or because of transboundary pollution. South Asia as a region is
characterized by “extremely high environmental stress” resulting from “scarcity of water”
“high urban population density” “energy shortages, “deforestation” “air pollution and
“natural” and “man-made disasters.”
Environmental security can be strengthened by: (a) preventing or mitigating
environmental degradation; (b) managing the global commons; (c) preventing and
managing global risks; and (d) collecting and exchanging information on schemes of
global environmental co-operation. To achieve environmental security, it requires support
action in the following areas:
(a) education, training and exchange of information;
(b) capacity building in elaboration of national and international law. This would be best
achieved through defining ecogeographical regions and international institutions.
RCSS Activities:
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With donor’s support RCSS plans to hold its future winter workshops on each of
the above -mentioned five themes.
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After a hiatus of three years, RCSS is planning to hold its next Winter Workshop
on Illicit Human Trafficking Issues in South Asia in fall 2007. RCSS has applied
for a grant to the Japan Foundation in Tokyo and is hoping to be able to raise the
required funding to hold the event.
As part of its continuing exploration of NTS issues by young scholars in the
region, RCSS will be publishing three monograph length studies based on
Mahbub-Ul-Haq Research Awards that were given to three teams of young
scholars last year to undertake collaborative research on human security issues.
MUH award is supported by the Ford Foundation and RCSS hopes to continue to
receive this award for the next two years.
In collaboration with the International Centre for Peace Studies (New Delhi),
RCSS will organize three training workshops over the next three years on the
theme of Security Sector Reforms in South Asia.
RCSS would be delighted to co-host the annual congress of NTS-Asia.
As chair of the NTS subgroup in NESA network of South Asian and Middle
Eastern Research Institutes, set up by NDU in Washington, DC in early 2005,
RCSS could help link some of these think-tanks especially those from the Gulf
and the Middle East, with NTS-Asia.
In terms of future work on analytical dimension of NTS perspective, two areas
require in-depth exploration: a) The Impact of 9/11 on NTS in terms of desecuritization, securitization and re-securitization of certain issues; and b)
Changing role of the state in South Asia. Instead of treating State as irrelevant and
pronouncing its demise, we should treat the issue of the continuing relevance of
state as an open-ended and empirical question.
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