Human security implications of COVID-19: Cases from Canada and Australia

Dr. Christie received an RRU Internal Grant for Research to study the theory and practice of human security as a way of working with vulnerable individuals/groups during the global pandemic.

Human security is a framework for protecting vulnerable individuals and groups facing insecurity (political, economic, social) providing alternative perspectives to state security where vulnerable, marginalized populations are ignored or swept to the side. The global pandemic, COVID-19, has provided another dimension to such debates: the disruptions caused by pandemics, public health policy and use of punitive measures which appear problematic in a democracy. These have serious implications for health security but also for personal and community security as we see the state going into ambiguous and uncharted territory. This research discusses the human security dilemma and COVID -19 using comparative cases in Vancouver, BC and Melbourne, Australia.