CSIS-EKEM Policy Report Number Four
Assessing Human Security in the Western Balkans
November 5, 2010
Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995 and the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, the countries of the Western Balkans have faced a new challenge of promoting human security. Human security was first defined by former Special Advisor to the United Nations Development Program Administrator, Dr. Mahbub ul Haq, as encompassing seven basic needs: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security. Under the rubric of human security, this paper assesses the challenges of displacement, discrimination, poverty, health standards, and environmental protection.