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Is homosexuality becoming for the first time a human security issue ?

As Reuters published in its website, the U.N. Security Council decides to hold a meeting on the Islamic state attacks against homosexuals. The next 24th of August, two gays, an Iraqi and a Syrian, will brief the United Nations.

It is the first time that the Security Council will consider gay issues as a problem of human security. At the same time, these last years the concept of human security has been extended to other fields than military agressions. Different types of threats such as international terrorism, epidemic and pandemic problems, violence against minorities, financial crisis or even climatic change are also included nowadays.

For the Human Security Commission, the concept of human security is defined as to “protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfillment.” It is thus leaving the previous state-centric conception of security to a transnational one, going beyond inter-state conflicts to all kind of violences that undermine humanity.

In practical terms, this decision means that the Unites Nations goes a step further into the recognition of gay and lesbian people and their rights. It also reinforces the UN position against the Islamic state, pointing out that this extremist organisation is a real threat to world peace.



  1. I really like the point you make here that the UN is moving to a transnational conception. For me this makes it a truly global organization that sees its role as ‘setting the standard of global best practice’ rather than an arbiter between states. It sometimes feels as if the nation state is slowly being replaced by centers that do not rely on territorial frontiers. Those I have remarked so far such as banking and finance are a concern, but the globalization of bodies like the UN could be a very positive step forward. I’m not an expert of geopolitics and it’s difficult to imagine the consequences but I expect these changes will have a very significant impact and need to be carefully managed. Once again I think we are seeing a change that is fundamentally a technological one and like so many technological changes in the past it is provoking, facilitating and making inevitable social, economic and political changes.

    1. In fact, transnational studies started around the 70s, but most of the international actors took it seriously nowadays. Regarding homosexuality issues, they were only listened by the UN Security council last week. Therefore, it doesn’t mean it will lead to secure homosexual people. Today, nothing is done.

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