The United Nations Development Program, UNDP, publishes annually a report related to the “human development”, in which the annual outcomes of each single Country and of the different geographical areas all over the world are included. The reference Index is the Human Development Index, HDI. It does not only include the economic possibilities of each, but also the main elements such as the life expectancy at birth and the level of education and instruction.
A new social report has been published recently with the title “new threatenings to the human security in the Antropocene: the request for a greater solidarity”. It’s only indirectly about the Human Development Index, as far as it focuses on the human security concept. According to this approach, security can be measured through the consideration of each human’s needs: mankind is willing to live free from the need, the fear and the threats to his dignity. Until 1994, a more traditional criteria was used to assess the security level, which was related to the security in a particular area. Since 2012, however, the human security has been recognized even by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the favorable one.
As far as the report is concerned, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to an end the growth process of the Human Development Index, thus weakening each individual security. Especially in 2020, lots of people that had to face the lockdown measures felt a great level of insecurity. Starting from 2021, when we learnt to live up to the pandemic, the Index seems to have been arising, even though it has not reached the pre-pandemic levels yet.
The above mentioned report aims at catching the threats to the human beings’ security. These menaces, according to someone’s opinions, may have an anthropogenic character for the first time, as they come from single actions and behavior. If in the past, therefore, the main concerns used to be bound to natural events and catastrophes, able to overturn the human life; today, the main threats to the human beings’ security may be connect to human activities: they may be violent conflicts, inequalities, the menace to health and the ones related to the digital technology. A fifth category is therefore foreseen, with the function of including the other possible dangers. These four categories seek to understand the main fears of each individual, not only related to the economic and social area, but also in a wider sense. The objective of the ones that have developed this approach is to give a systematic perspective to solve the issues that may affect people. The solution to be preferred, according to the authors, may be a greater solidarity, an element able to concretely act to solve the problems of the global communities.
One of the main elements of concern is about the climate change. In the report, a direct connection between the planet’s conditions and the social factors has been tackled, within the context of the Antropocene. The Antropocene, despite its uncertainty about its starting date, is the geologic period in which the mankind can have a direct impact on the world conditions. As regards the relation between the planet and the society, climate change is believed to be an element that undermines the human security in the immediate future, thus bringing about huge effects before the end of this century.
After having become aware of the fact that there are many aspects that may affect human security, both in the countries with a high Human Development Index and in the low ones, some solutions to the main threatenings are given in the report. The central element within the report of the UNDP is the change of heart of every process that implies human beings, towards a new direction that leads to a greater solidarity.
To check the special report by the United Nations Human Development: https://hs.hdr.undp.org/pdf/srhs2022.pdf
Alessandro Micalef
Laureato in Giurisprudenza all'Università degli Studi di Milano.
Ha una propensione per lo studio delle materie umanistiche sin dagli anni del liceo, soprattutto quelle storiche.
Durante i suoi studi universitari sviluppa un interesse per il Diritto Internazionale ed Europeo, più in particolare per i Diritti dell’Uomo in entrambi i contesti.
Oggetto della sua tesi di laurea è stato il caso che coinvolge Gambia e Myanmar davanti alla Corte Internazionale di Giustizia, in cui il Myanmar viene accusato di genocidio ai danni della minoranza etnica Rohingya.
All’interno di Mondo Internazionale è autore per l’area tematica di Organizzazioni Internazionali.
Law Graduate from Università degli Studi di Milano.
He has a propensity for humanistic subjects since high school, especially for historical ones.
During his academic studies, he develops an interest for International Law and European Law, in particular Human Rights in both contexts.
His final dissertation was related to the case concerning The Gambia and Myanmar in front of the International Court of Justice, where Myanmar is accused of genocide perpetrated against Rohingya ethnic minority.
Within Mondo Internazionale he is author in the context of International Organizations.