OUR GOAL

The main objective of the project is to increase advocacy activities on human security issues within the framework of a systematic research program to be carried out at national level (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia), regional level (Balkans and Turkey) and European level. The project research also addresses the forms and causes of violence faced by citizens in the Balkans and Turkey in their daily lives, especially at schools, workplaces and living spaces. 

One of the main motivations of the project is to develop a set of indicators in order to systematically monitor human security developments in the region. 

In this way, we aim to create a model cooperation between activists and researchers, to enhance the interaction between researchers, activists and political circles while improving the research capacity of civic actors engaged in advocacy activities. 

WHY BALKANS AND TURKEY?

There are two main axes of cleavage among the countries that fall under the scope of this partnership. The first of these is the recent past of armed conflicts which occurred within the borders of two Western Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo). This conflict has produced very fundamental and deep political, administrative, demographic, economic and social consequences for the whole region.  The other axis, on the other hand, can be described within the framework of formal relations with the European Union. In this picture, while Bulgaria is an EU member state, Turkey is a candidate country and a number of Western Balkan countries are in a different stages of an accession process. 

On the other hand, one can talk about some common characteristics for these countries, namely; forms of economic and political change and the intensive flow of migration in the region. A series of consequences brought about by these processes affect the lives of individuals and communities living in this region in such a way to make their life oppressive, discriminatory and insecure. 

Politically, all these countries are trying to approach a liberal / democratic model of the state, but in practice they have not yet developed decisive liberal elements required for implementation of governance. This translates into deficiencies of democracy, experienced as a kind of 'differentiated citizenships' in daily life practices of citizens, though not in the law. There is still a long way to go in these societies for the adoption of an understanding of a fair government, which provides a minimum protection and security that citizens in stable democracies can live in, and where rule of law prevails. Behind formal equality and rights, citizens' participation is severely constrained, and what's worse, there are hierarchies among citizens where some groups are 'more equal' than others. The scale and forms of social exclusion which exist in these societies and which differ from Western European standards, often constitute an obstacle to the exercise of political rights officially granted to citizens in the Western Balkans, Bulgaria and Turkey. There remain serious concerns about governments' approach to issues such as human rights, minority affairs, reconciliation, media, transparency and accountability.  

Economically, all these countries follow a neoliberal model of modernization under the pressure of universal standards of globalizing markets, competition and economic governance, and this model brings with it a variety of challenges for state, society and social cohesion. While increasing inequality in income distribution deepens poverty, governments' anti-poverty policies do not work. The lack of productive employment and social security is still regarded as the most important concern of citizens. 

Another special issue that has important implications for the welfare and security of citizens in the socio-economic context of this region is the issue of migration. The countries in question have experienced intensive and massive waves of internal migration, including ethnic migration due to manifest or latent conflict. These migration waves have created different types of pressures on social policies (education, social housing, and welfare arrangements) and social cohesion. 

Therefore, the significance of the activities undertaken by this civic initiative in this region is better understood when we look at people's individual perceptions and daily life experiences. For each of these countries, the greatest threats to peaceful coexistence and to social justice include inter-communal relations, social exclusion and governance-related issues - these issues constitute the main vision of all civil society organizations partnering in this initiative. 

The research theme of the project focuses on the examination of various issues which make individual and community life insecure and dangerous as a daily life experience in these societies. Subject to collection of reliable findings, this partnership aims to link various actors at local, national and especially European level on these issues by establishing a solid basis for developing recommendations and approaches for reconciliation between individuals and communities. 

WHY HUMAN SECURITY?

While encompassing traditional security areas such as conflict prevention, crisis management, civilian-military relations, the human security approach, the backbone of our work, also incorporates human rights and human development perspectives into the analysis of 'insecurity' through concrete situations. By placing the human at the heart of human security problem, including a consideration of political, economic and social dimensions of security, it stretches and expands the perceptions of 'threat' and thus questions the scope and institutional structure of security. It also points to principles such as democratization, transparency and accountability of political processes, which mean a transition from a closed elite government model to a model open to all citizens.

BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN SECURITY

Although its intellectual roots date back to the 1940s, the concept of human security first entered the civilian space through the United Nations Development Program's 1994 Human Development Report. The report, outlining the seven components of human security, (economic security, food security, health safety, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security), aimed to address the concept of security in a broader manner, going beyond the mere security of the state against external military threats. This state-centred traditional security concept suggested that security could only be provided by the state institutions such as police and military. 

However, in the post-cold war era, new threats such as corruption, ethnic conflicts, human and weapon trafficking, sensitive information systems, and access to justice have arisen outside the control of the state, former security institutions seem to be ineffective in combatting these threats. In the increasingly complicated world, national borders are no longer decisive for security and insecurity. While the European Union has enlarged within the framework of the concept of 'trans-national citizenship' with the participation of new member states, it has faced new and complex security challenges. When the concept entered the EU's agenda in this context in 2000s, it was understood that traditional security tools were inadequate in solving the problems that created this insecurity. On the other hand, with the dimensions 'freedom from fear' and 'the right to live with dignity', human security refers to the security of individuals and communities and 'humanizes security' with a bottom-up method. Thus, human security offers a framework for dealing with new security issues with cross-border and trans-boundary dimensions. In order to assess such opportunities provided by the concept, the EU has prepared two reports on the issue. In the 2004 Barcelona report, the need for a human security doctrine and its associated legal framework were emphasized. This was followed by the Madrid Report, prepared in 2007, defining the concept and focusing on how to mobilize EU resources for that purpose. 

CN4HS AS A METHOD 

Citizens' Network for Peace, Reconciliation and Human Security - CN4HS is also a unique tool for examining human security vulnerabilities in the Balkans and Turkey and for advocating policies for their resolution. 

Partners have already identified key research issues. The initial findings of the research will be available in mid-2014 and will feed the content of a series of country and regional reports. 

On the other hand, during its first year of the existence, our Citizens' Network for Peace, Reconciliation and Human Security achieved the following in a concrete manner;

  • Short articles dealing with more than 20 issues around the theme Panorama of Human (In)security, 
  • An active and user-friendly website that provides guiding content on the project and human security issues in the region (ww.cn4hs.org),
  • A workshop held in Podgorica in May 2013, where the project and its objective were presented,
  • A panel discussion in Belgrade in November 2013, where the concept of human security was presented to students and academics,
  • A Regional Conference held in Istanbul on January 31-February 1, 2014, that brought together experts, activists and decision-makers as participants and speakers dealing with human security debate in Turkey and the Balkans.

However, when the first year of the project was over, our most important achievement beyond all these meetings was a unique working method developed by partners. Through this methodical framework prepared jointly by project partner organizations and academics from the London School of Economics (LSE), we have developed a working methodology to understand, research and develop solutions for various issues which, as we observed, produce insecurity in the daily lives of ordinary people in this region. 

We, partners, define this methodological tool as "Forms and Spaces of Violence in Turkey and the Balkans" - here we will use the short name "CN4HS tool", consisting of the initials of the project name in English. Using the CN4HS tool, we believe that the findings we will have about issues that threaten the security of persons in Turkey and the Balkans will be of great value to decision makers, researchers, observers and activists in both the regional and EU level. 

Why is this Important?

This tool will have two benefits; firstly, findings of this project (the CN4HS tool is used in these studies); secondly, a permanent method that can be used in the future when approaching other relevant issues in this region ... Thus, while the research findings should inform the relevant stakeholders about the facts that create insecurity on one hand, CN4HS is also intended to be adopted by other actors in the future. Well, what are the features of this tool that are worth using by others? 

First of all, what makes the method unique as a result of its strong emphasis on the individual is that it allows for capturing a highly realistic, human-centred picture of the issues that generate insecurity in the region. People's perspectives and individuals' strategies about how they cope with the insecurities surrounding them constitute the basis of this approach. Thus, a significant portion of the research activities conducted by partners consist of open-ended interviews and personal stories. Because there is no other similar work in the region, the method is also a pioneer in this sense. 

The method is also meaningful and relevant... The methodological framework we have named 'Forms and Spaces of Violence in Turkey and the Balkans' and three research clusters identified (Youth, Workplace Safety and Displacement) have been generated at the end of long and in-depth consultation processes undertaken by partners in their respective countries through a participative, bottom-up approach. In a sense, these three areas represent a sincere photo taken by project partners in Turkey and the Balkans about the issues which currently give rise to insecurity for citizens. 

Finally, because we preferred to deal with a limited number of issues in an in-depth way, instead of dealing with a multitude of issues superficially, this method also allows for a thorough review. In other words, the method we have achieved has an approach which is both inclusive, descriptive and deep, comprehensive and focused and not representative. 

Why is it valuable?

The findings to be generated by the implementation of the CN4HS tool in six partner countries will be of value to researchers, activists, media, decision makers in this region and to Brussels. Our study is intended for bringing a better understanding of existing human security vulnerabilities in Turkey and the Balkans, and for contributing to the development of solutions through subject-specific approaches designed from the individual perspective. But as the concept of human security is not very popular in the region, we, project partners have adopted a dual strategy for the visibility and interaction of the issue. Accordingly, one of the goals is to emphasize that the concept of human security is a suitable tool for dealing with many issues, that is to say the idea of ​​'humanizing' security; and, to this end, to organize panel and round table events that focus on the very concept of human security. What we are talking about here is to explain and spread the concept of human security rather than research findings. A good example of this kind of activity was the panel Mary Martin held in Belgrade. 

On the other hand, dissemination of research findings will be another activity to inform relevant institutions and actors about the violence and insecurity people are experiencing in this region. We will therefore disseminate the CN4HS tool as a unique, relevant, thorough and effective method.

In the content of the CN4HS tool, to be prepared as a concrete modular training package but not yet completed, the following materials prepared in the first year of the project will be included; 

THEME: FORMS AND SPACES OF VIOLENCE 

Why Violence?

We have identified the concept of violence as a reference to addressing - under a common framework- different issues to be addressed by partners in the framework of the human security approach. We define violence directly as a form of social relation and interaction that goes beyond physical violence. Thus, we have identified our basic motivation as trying to understand how different kinds of social relations occur and what kind of insecurities and vulnerabilities they create together. In other words, going beyond the narrow conceptualization of violence described as direct physical harm and an action, we are interested in many different forms and manifestations of the concept, how it emerges (processes and relationships), and how all these processes relate to each other. 

Thus we consider the concept of violence in a broad range starting from physical and verbal abuse to include different shades like persecution, discrimination and marginalization practices (You can access the article we prepared as part of the project on the link of violence with human security approach; Babovic (2013) Violence from the HS perspective)

Another issue that we consider important in the research is to highlight the situations and spaces that are particularly ignored when it comes to problems threatening the physical, mental and social well-being of excluded individuals and communities. We hope to see what vulnerabilities and concerns are caused in human life by places such as schools, houses and workplaces which should be secure under normal circumstances, but which are not at all, as well as by processes such as privatization and urban transformation, where the human security dimension is most often ignored. 

The research also focuses on different forms of violence, contexts where it occurs as well as formal or informal mitigation, improvement and coping mechanisms used by individuals and groups in response to insecurities created by violence. Partners grouped the research topics around three main themes that they consider significant in terms of manifestation and spaces of violence; (I) violence that affects young people, (ii) workplace violence and (iii) violence caused by displacement. You can see the titles of specific research to be carried out in each country in the table below. 

  Displacement and Violence Workplace Violence Gençlik ve Şiddet
Bosnia and Herzegovina     Youth and violence at high schools
Bulgaria Household crimes against the elderly Forced voting at the workplace  
Kosovo   Infrastructure construction sector in Kosovo Youth and violence at high schools
Montenegro Insecure housing policies    Youth and violence on the internet
Serbia   Use of minority groups as labour force in toxic and waste industries and illegal privatizations  Youth and violence at high schools
Turkey Displacement of the Kurds and inter-group security perception Occupational discrimination against women and minorities in white collar sectors    

YOUTH AND VIOLENCE

The common aim of the researches under this title is to address the rising youth violence in the region, particularly in relation to places like schools and workplaces which are supposed to be secure.

One of the most prominent issues of this region, especially in relation to long-term youth unemployment, is the youth bulge. Homelessness, delinquency, health problems and youth poverty, which can be considered as the triggering factor of migration, is another issue related to youth unemployment. All researches on young people in the Western Balkans points to an increasingly worrying number of young people who want to leave their country for a better life. The biggest social cost of the liberal transition in the Western Balkans has been the erosion of quality of the education system and the education standards. This erosion, combined with factors like deteriorations of the school management system and accompanying poverty and the legacy of the regional war (displacement, ethnic tensions, etc.) jointly contributed to an increased tendency towards violence at school, other public places, and even at home and in families. 

The lack of the necessary interest and care for the young generation, the general decline in value systems, increased intolerance and negative role models are all various dimensions that support and nurture a kind of "culture of violence". Thus, we observe that violence among young people has been adopted in region-specific manners and internalized as a lifestyle. 

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

The main problem underlying this topic is how the workplace has become a breeding ground of insecurity instead of security. 

Unemployment and various forms of insecure employment have been some of the most decisive features of the Western Balkans' development over the last thirty years. The transition to the market economy and the handover of former state assets through large-scale privatization practices as the cornerstone of that transition have become one of the important channel of this process. The result was a massive structural transformation accompanied by collective redundancies, increased informal employment and expansion of insecure forms of employment. Long-term unemployment, unfavourable age and sex profiles, deep problems such as disproportionate unemployment among disabled and ethnic minority groups; the increasing scale and manifestations of informal employment are deep issues which lie behind official unemployment figures.  All these countries, while tending to make labour markets flexible in line with supra-national standards and laws, have seriously eroded the security of the workforce due to the weakness of their economies and regulatory capacities. These trends in the labour market have had many implications on prosperity and social life such as early retirement and inadequate compensations; retraining of the labour force; the disproportionate distribution of redundancies for women and minorities, problems to which governments in the region failed to respond. 

In some cases, the reason why employment is insecure may be related to the industry itself. This is the case, for example, in hazardous substances industries where workers are directly exposed to life-threatening hazards. The majority of workers in these sectors are made up of the marginalized part of the labour market. 

VIOLENCE BROUGHT BY DISPLACEMENT

This research will focus on inter-community relations at different sites resulting from displacements triggered by conflicts or development processes. 

Breakup of social relations and processes that create trust issues among some segments of the population have some triggering factors such as migration. Consecutive waves of internal displacement, characteristics of migration specific to this region have brought about a number of unique problems in inter-communal relations and social cohesion. In addition to creating heavy pressure on local resources and infrastructure facilities where such migration occurs, such displacements also create sensitive tensions in the inter-group relations between the local population and the newcomers. As we have observed in Northwest Bulgaria, the economic migration has seriously depopulated the rural area, resulting in exposure of the elderly population left behind to ordinary crimes, which is another example of the insecurity caused by displacement. In Turkey, we can talk about urban transformation processes, which forced many people out of their living spaces and resettled them in other places in a context accompanied by tensions. 

Through this study of human security in the Balkans and Turkey, we aim to identify the problems that lie at the heart of the insecurity experienced by the socially excluded and marginalized individuals and groups in their daily lives, and the angles between existing mechanisms for overcoming and combating these problems. Therefore, an important line of inquiry that is evident for the three areas of activity is whether the mechanisms (institutions and policies) in question are sufficient to combat the types of sensitivities we are hoping to uncover through this work, and to address the dimension of governance in this connection. 

WHAT KIND OF A CIVIC ACTION?

Citizens in the Balkans and Turkey, especially the most vulnerable and defenceless segments of society, are faced with a series of insecurity issues that affects their lives. These insecurities arise from conditions and dynamics going beyond a mobilization at the local and national level. Making these issues visible and understandable is not only about anti-minority, racist, xenophobic and similar voices expanding their area of influence in this region. This partnership aims to mobilize a wide range of actors to make the complex and multi-layered nature of the deprivations in the region and their human security implications a policy priority. Civil society, the private sector, the public sector or citizens - none of these actors can achieve that mobilization on their own or in their respective scale. That is why we think that the approach of regional co-operation that we propose in this partnership will be an important source of inspiration in response to the question of what kind of a civic action there should be. 

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP  

Bosnia and Herzegovina | Youth Resource Centre - Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Tuzla 

In addition to being a well-known leading organization in the field of youth, it is also the founder and partner of civic networks active in many areas of youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans. It started its operations in 1995 through the initiative and partnership of Banja Luka and Tuzla Helsinki Citizens' Assembly; and was formally established in 2004. The organization is working to introduce youth initiatives across Bosnia and Herzegovina to each other, to develop their capacities, activities and project ideas, while focusing specifically on the young population living in small communities.  

Bulgaria | The Institute for Regional and International Studies - IRIS 

It is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think-tank. Located in Bulgaria's Sofia city, the organization is working to develop regional strategies for the production of democratic policies and to raise international awareness about the issues that occur in Bulgaria, the Balkans and in the Black Sea region. IRIS produces analyses in the areas of current public policies, international relations and security programs.

Kosovo | Centre for Research, Documentation and Publication - CRDP 

Established in 2010, the centre work for the normalization of regional and local relations by encouraging the development of transitional justice mechanisms. CRDP expects that in the long-term this will help Kosovo confront its past of human rights violations. The CRDP aims to be a resource centre for transitional law and justice issues by expressing the needs of ethnic minorities and conflict victims. It mainly provides counselling support for disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities, victims of conflict, former prisoners and war veterans. 

Montenegro | Association for Democratic Prosperity - ZID 

It is a leading member of civil society in Montenegro. It develops advocacy, tools and training on social inclusion, youth politics, volunteering and citizenship issues. Widely involved in peace and youth networks working at regional level, ZID works on various issues including Euro-Atlantic integration, citizen security, social affairs, poverty reduction and other disadvantaged groups. 

Serbia | SeConS - Development Initiative Group 

It is a leading NGO in Serbia active in the field of social inclusion. Since its establishment, it has worked for the promotion of social inclusion policies vis-a-vis decision-makers and NGOs. The organization focuses specifically on the economic and social aspects of the concept of human security. In 2008, SeConS experts developed indicator sets compatible with the EU approach to monitoring social inclusion. 

Turkey | Helsinki Citizens' Assembly - hCa 

Helsinki Citizens' Assembly is a civil society organization working on fundamental rights and freedoms, peace, democracy and pluralism. It is a component of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, established following the Helsinki Final Act, which set the stage for the development of conditions favourable to peace in Europe. The word Helsinki used in the name of the assembly refers to this historical document. The assembly works on European Union integration process, minority rights and multiculturalism, civil approaches to conflicts, rule of law, human rights and civic participation, local democracy and empowerment of civil society.