Common Security Conference 2024: Redefining Security for the 21st Century

Common Security Conference 2024: Redefining Security for the 21st Century

Date: November 28-29, 2024
Where: Online via Zoom

Stay tuned for more details on registration.

Introduction:

Following the presentation of the report “Common Security 2022: For Our Shared Future”, we have witnessed a great deterioration in global relations, with the outbreak of several new wars, violent conflicts, and socio-political crises. The report was released soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a war that still drags on to this day with few signals of resolution; the October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent disproportionate response by Israel has created one of the largest humanitarian crises in the 21st century and led to accusations of genocidal intent.

Out of the public eye, we see new full-blown wars in Sudan and Manipur in Northeast India, unresolved territorial disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, a continuation of destabilization in Libya, and escalating confrontational and militaristic rhetoric from the South China Sea to the Korean Peninsula, India-Pakistan-Kashmir, and beyond. Militarization is at an all-time-high since the Cold War but within an increasingly multipolar context. Threats of nuclear weapons use are on the rise and there is a growing reliance on weapons of mass destruction in military strategy in both ongoing and future conflict scenarios.

There is hardly any talk of alternatives to the current realities – diplomacy, conflict resolution, and disarmament are largely ignored in favor of coercive and militarized competition.

It is therefore more important now than ever to emphasize the alternatives to war and militarization loud and clear across all audiences – from grassroots activists to political decision-makers, trade unions and workers to academics and media. We need to build a movement to challenge the hegemonic view that militarized security alone can solve the myriad of problems that we face – from wars and sociopolitical crises to climate change and environmental degradation, poverty and hunger, to threats to democracy and the rise of authoritarianism – problems that know no borders.

The shifting geopolitical landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for peace. We must use this moment to build security alternatives for the future – ones that center on what truly makes us all safe.

The Conference

Common Security – the concept that nations and populations can only feel safe when their counterparts feel safe – emerged during a period of high tension and uncertainty in 1982, as a result of Olof Palme’s Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues. Forty years later, Olof Palmes Internationella Center, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the International Peace Bureau (IPB) released Common Security 2022: For Our Shared Future, modernizing the concept for the 21st century and the modern challenges we are confronted with. 

IPB, ITUC and Olof Palmes Internationella Center and partners* hereby introduce the Common Security 2024 Conference with the goal of revitalizing the vision, philosophy and concept of common security and redefining the paradigm through which we view ‘security’. Moreover, the Conference aims to serve as a forum in which to discuss and expand the concepts from the 2022 report, including viewing common security through regional lenses and developing strategic priorities and goals. 

The Conference will take place on 28-29 November 2024 on Zoom. We invite you to join us.

Forty years after Olof Palme’s groundbreaking vision of Common Security emerged in 1982, the concept remains just as vital today. Updated for modern challenges in Common Security 2022: For Our Shared Future, this framework reminds us that nations are only secure when all people feel safe.

This year, join Olof Palmes Internationella Center, ITUC, IPB, and partners* as we revitalize and expand on Common Security. Together, we’ll explore regional perspectives, strategic priorities, and new goals to meet today’s complex global landscape.

Be part of the conversation to redefine ‘security’ for a peaceful, shared future.