Human Security Centre

The Human Security Centre (HSC) is an international, independent, not-for-profit foreign policy think-tank based in London, United Kingdom. The HSC promotes the concept of human security as a necessary supplement to traditional state security and as a central pillar of modern foreign policy. It aims to educate the public and inform the policy debate at the domestic and international level about current and emerging threats to human security, and to promote an international society wherein individuals and communities can live free from fear, free from want and free from indignity. While the HSC recognises that individuals and communities may face threats that cut across multiple human security domains, it focuses on threats pertaining to conflicts, mass atrocity crimes and human rights violations. It emphasises the importance and universality of human rights and fundamental freedoms, promotes democratic values and warns about the dangers of isolationist foreign policy. Its work also seeks to draw attention to the consequences of action and inaction by the international community in the face of human rights abuses and violence committed against civilians around the world. The HSC engages with government agencies, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and other relevant partners to advance people-centred, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented solutions. It produces a wide range of digital publications that cover human security issues across the world, regularly submits evidence to Parliamentary inquiries, and offers analysis and commentary to various international media outlets. The principal research clusters at the HSC are ‘Security and Defence’, ‘Human Rights and Conflict Resolution’, ‘Religion and Politics’, and ‘Global Governance’ (including international law). It also has a Policy Unit which produces regular policy briefs on a wide variety of topical international affairs and foreign policy issues.