Project Leader

Therese Pettersson, Research Coordinator

Project Period

January 2002 - ongoing

Contact Person

Therese Pettersson

Project Description

The term human security, in general, relates to developing a conceptualisation of security at the level of the individual person, that is, addressing what factors can make a person’s life insecure. In the widest sense, many different aspects can be incorporated in an understanding of human security: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, political security, etc. UCDP’s work for the Human Security Report Project focuses on providing data for one crucial indicator of human security—collective violence.

While UCDP has traditionally collected data on interstate and intrastate conflict, several new categories of collective violence have been added in order to achieve a better understanding of the full range of threats to human security posed by collective violence.

Since 2002, the categories of non-state conflict (conflict between two groups, neither of which is the state), and one-sided violence by states or organised groups against civilians (such as massacres and genocide) have become part of the UCDP annual conflict data collection.

At present, the UCDP has information on one-sided violence from 1989 onwards, and for non-state conflict from 1989 onwards. The ambition is to expand the scope of both these datasets further in the future.

Publications

Sundberg, Ralph, 2009, "Revisiting One-sided Violence - A Global and Regional Analysis", UCDP Paper No.3, Uppsala University: Department of Peace and Conflict Research

Sundberg, Ralph. 2008. "Collective Violence 2002 - 2007": Global and Regional Trends." in Harbom, Lotta and Ralph Sundberg (Ed.) States in Armed Conflict 2007. Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research.

Eck, Kristine and Lisa Hultman. 2007. “One-Sided Violence Against Civilians in War: Insights from New Fatality Data.” Journal of Peace Research 44(2): 233-246.

Kreutz, Joakim. 2006. “The Nexus of Democracy, Conflict and the Targeting of Civilians, 1989-2005.” In Harbom, Lotta (Ed.) States in Armed Conflict 2005. Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research.

Eck, Kristine. 2005. “Getting it Wrong: the ‘Urban myth’ About Civilian War Deaths.” in Mack, Andrew (Ed.) The Human Security Report 2005, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Kreutz, Joakim. 2005. “Collective Violence in 2004: Focus on Human Insecurity on the Horn of Africa.” in Harbom, Lotta (Ed.) States in Armed Conflict 2004. Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, pp. 147-179.

Eck, Kristine, Margareta Sollenberg, and Peter Wallensteen. 2004. “One-Sided Violence and Non-State Conflict.” in Harbom, Lotta (Ed.) States in Armed Conflict 2003. Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, pp. 133-142.

Eck, Kristine. 2004. “Collective Violence in 2002 and 2003.” in Harbom, Lotta (Ed.) States in Armed Conflict 2003. Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, pp. 143-166.

Main Financial Support

• Human Security Report Project, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada

Usefil links

Human Security Report Project (HSRP)
Commission on Human Security