Peace through Human Development
Human development is about the real freedom ordinary people have to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live. Human development is defined as the process of enlarging people’s freedoms and occasions and enhancing their well-being. Development tends to concentrate on promoting profitable growth and progress in specific social sectors similar as health and education.
In fact, peace and stability don’t fall outside of the boundaries of development. We frequently hear arguments against including peace and stability in a new global development docket. One of the most common of these arguments is that erecting long-term peace and stability is separate from the work of long-term human development. Peace is when people are capable to resolve their conflicts without violence and can work together to ameliorate the quality of their lives. The two must go hand in hand. Peace is when
• Everyone is capable to share in shaping political opinions and the government is responsible to the people
• Everyone has an equal chance to work and make a living, anyhow of gender, ethnicity, or any other aspect of identity
• Everyone is equal before the law, the systems for justice are trusted, and fair and effective laws defend people’s rights
• Everyone lives in safety, without fear or trouble of violence, and no form of violence is permitted in law or in practice
• Everyone has fair and equal access to the fundamental requirements for their wellbeing — similar as food, clean water, shelter, education, healthcare, and a decent living terrain.
Some people also argue that we cannot work effectively or efficiently towards these goals because peace and stability cannot be measured. Our experience with measuring human development against these outcomes is more limited than our experience with measuring progress towards socioeconomic outcomes, the fact that they are measurable is beyond dispute.
Dr. Anukriti Sharma
Professor, Applied Sciences Deptt.
SIRT, Bhopal
