Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries

In Arab countries, a widespread lack of human security undermines human development, according to the Arab Human Development Report 2009: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries. This report is prepared by independent scholars drawn from the region. The report argues that human security is a prerequisite for human development, and that the widespread absence of human security in Arab countries undermines people’s options. Human security refers not only to questions of survival, but also basic needs such as access to clean water and quality of life concerns. Human security in the Arab countries is often threatened by unjust political, social, and economic structures; by competition for power and resources among fragmented social groups; and, in some cases, by the impacts of external military intervention.