Abstract
This paper briefly examines the humanitarian aspects related to integrated coastal and maritime security policy of governments with a brief reference to India. In this study the idea of national security is approached as the wholesome concept of national governance towards maximising human well-being of the people of a nation in the future perspective. It is important for governments to understand the human problem beyond the beaten track of strategic analysis where conventional and decrepit ideologies still ride herd being familiar and convenient while decision making. Serious thinking is necessary for execution on ground especially when global demographic density is increasing. Much of it will naturally percolate to coastal areas and near shore sectors. Coastal areas are demographic attractors since yore. This situation, coupled with the already experiencing sea level rise, can complicate the scenario worldwide and can turn out to be yet another tragic human experience in the history of the world that may defy solutions if not pre-empted. This also calls for upgrading existing humanitarian regimes shifting focus from mere military basics most of which are archaic and cannot support impending challenges of human system. This paper does not look into the military matters of humanitarian law and principles. The attention here is on the interfacial maritime domain that demands certain exclusivity while planning for the overall governance by national security.
Keywords: National security, integrated coastal and maritime security, governance by national security, human well-being.
Introduction
Security of an entity, whether human or otherwise, is a subject of governance. Security of a nation, the largest identifiable human system, in the post Westphalian world, is one of the charters of its government. But presently, there is a difference in the appreciation of the term, national security. It is critical for national governance. National security is a compound term. It is not merely physical or military security as often projected. Conceptually, it is a much more enlarged construct that has been changing dynamically for almost 230 years when the United States government decided to stretch beyond the foremost element of national security military security, as the primary intent of governance[2]. The results of change in governance is visible in the global power stacking of the country today. According to the author, as on today, the concept of national security has evolved into 16 mutually inclusive and interactive elements that a government has to execute by integration over the land, the home ground of nations, and over another seven terrains, physical and non-physical in a terrain-specific governance by national security (GBNS) [3]. The overall well-being of the citizens of the nation is ideally the ultimate objective of governance in a human system that is reasonably well advanced compared to the past. The objective of attaining such a situation as an endgame is not precisely possible under human behavioural vacillations and the law of limitations. But proceeding towards the objective of well-being of the citizens is very much plausible and relatively easy too. Those engaged in governance of human systems, especially nations, should know that such an approach is possible only by the integration of the perennially interactive elements of national security and the terrains on which the game is played today by governments. The outputs of governance when compared against identified and accepted metrics will project the relative standing of nations in human well-being at any given time. Even if not globally standardised or accepted, nothing prevents a nation in understanding its momentum and state for its own use in strategic planning of national security governance more precisely than the tried-out methods still in practice. This needs further clarification.
Clarity of statement
The overall appreciation of a statement by target audience will depend upon its expressive clarity sans semantic dissonance (Paleri, 2022). The concept of well-being of the citizens of a country is an equidistantly moving target under human vacillations between needs and wants and hence cannot be set as a definable end target. This aspect induces the necessary dynamism in the intellectually evolving human system as a change driver. Governance thereby becomes an ongoing continuum process, hence dynamically challenging.
There are varying definitions for the term nation or state. Most of them have tested time since long. In the forefront of national security studies, a state can be interpreted as a political entity that is governed or is governable by a government. But a nation is more than that when it qualifies security to form the compound term national security. Here the term nation under the present context can be considered as an identifiable human system that can be governed as a singular system [4]. Rule of law (ROL) holds the key to authority in governance. Law should recognise the entity accepted as a nation for establishing rule of law. The conditions are organised or collective and interactive human existence, territory and authority over them to exercise law and governability. The Westphalian model followed presently is based on the idea of sovereignty over the state irrespective of size. International law admits sovereignty as an exclusive right of a state over its territory. In all these appreciations the concept of national security holds higher ground for governing the considered human system by national security.
There are three facets to allude in this paper before examining the dimensions of integrated coastal and maritime security under GBNS prior to arriving at humanitarian considerations:
1) A nation in the study of national security is a human system governable under a government.
2) A state refers to a political unit with sovereignty over a given territory. While a state is more of a "politico-legal abstraction," the definition of a nation is more concerned with political identity and cultural or historical factors in a systemic approach.
3) The Westphalian system, also known as Westphalian sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory.
The idea of integrated coastal and maritime security
Coastal security is a term of convenience in strategic national security governance linked with maritime security. The perception is outward into the ocean. The impact is vectored inward into the hinterland from the ocean. The terms are used in situation-based policy approach to amplify the objectives for critical examination before decision making. Understanding the specificity of the two terms beyond general appreciation is, therefore, vital for governments and their forces and agencies. Coast is a part of the land terrain, whereas the term maritime refers to the ocean, the second terrain in chronological hierarchy in the study of national security. Both are interfaced with airspace, the third terrain. It is for the government of a nation to make decisions on governing the coast and the ocean it has under this stasis and more. Interestingly the coast is applicable to only coastlands (Paleri 2014) and islands directly. A landlocked nation may not have to study about coastal aspects related to ocean even though it is a maritime nation as laws related to ocean is applicable to them. It has to be concerned about the ocean as a global commons, and the legal aspects associated with its usage under the ocean property (Paleri 2002) regime applicable to it to benefit in GBNS.
Enforcing coastal security policies under the concept of integrated maritime security, as appreciated by the governments and its agencies, invoke the necessity for humanitarian considerations. Therefore, the idea of human rights is briefly looked at prior to proceeding further.
Interpreting human rights today
Concern for another human, though natural to humans by evolutionary traits of interactive behaviour, gets shadowed by more powerful survival instincts. It took time to float into the present social system as humans advanced in thought, deeds and right discrimination with intellectual confidence. Author Collin Wilson (1931-2013) estimated the time when human intellectual thought process elevated to humanitarian empathy coinciding with the works of European authors Victor Hugo (1802-1885) Charles Dickens (1812-1870). He called them humanitarian authors.[5]
India has a different take preceding the European awareness. India is the longest surviving human continuum under the continuum concept (Paleri, 2014) [6]. Obviously, the intellectual evolution in such a system could be older than in other parts of the world. There are references about “dharma,” proclamation of good deeds towards the other human. This consideration reflected in the scriptures and principles of governance since ancient days in India influencing the governments and the governed.
The United Nations (UN), as the collective voice of the world, came much later (1945). Human rights became rights sans ethnicity (Paleri, 2007) of any kind where ethnicity is the human status that differentiates one from the other. Ethnicity in this study includes sex, gender, religion or any other status that differentiates one human from another externally in a time functional situation. Human rights as advocated include inherent rights to life and property, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to work and education.
The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 of India defines human rights as the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India (s. 2 (1) (d)). The rights are inalienable and indispensable. Ultimately it is about equality and dignity for humans. Throughout history what stands out in the evolution of human rights and human advancement is the contribution of human intellectual prowess that cannot be ethnically differentiated. Every human system contributed towards the present stasis of human rights on its passage from the primitive thinkers to modern thinkers. Obviously, the concept is poised to become more and more humane as human system thinking advances in time.
Human rights and integrated coastal and maritime security governance
Ocean is unitary. It is divided into five divisions by international Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) or, as recognised by some, into three divisions for operational and administrative convenience [7]. The coast is the identified part of the land adjoining the ocean. It can be seen as a wholesome entity or a part entity. It is for the governments to decide. One way to identify the coast is to consider it as part of the marine environment extended over the land. For example, the part of land adjoining the ocean could be mentioned as the interfacial marine environment (IFME) for marine environmental studies or while deciding over the policies of marine environmental governance (Paleri, 2009) [8]. The coast is an area, but the coastline is a fractal and also changes shape and dimensions all the time by the dynamic actions along the interface. It is further aggravated by sea level rise and reclamation anywhere in the ocean [9].
The maritime border further complicates the issue. It is not linear like the land border. It is more an area than a line. The visible coastline is not the border. It is the internal perimeter of the territorial sea or historical waters, the maritime border area [10]. That is one of the reasons why the semantics on maritime borders confusingly rest on the term coastal security. It is a term used loosely. Coastal security is a misnomer in national security decision making. Such usage deflects national security strategy for integrating maritime terrain in national security governance. Coastline is internal to the nation. The sovereign rights of a nation extend beyond the coast. Humans should understand the sea will also take away equal land they reclaim from it. That is simple hydraulics. International law advocates baseline establishment according to tide levels and other parameters to standardise area measurements internal towards land and external towards sea in interfacial administration. Besides, a coast is also four-dimensional module with sea, land, air and outer space for integration in ocean governance [11]. It is highly dynamic but is not a border of the geoentity. It lies inside the territory of a coastland or island nation. That is the key factor why it is not the border. It is similar to a Rann spanning inwards from the border over land. The governance of interfacial coastal interface and its associated dimensions has to be a state and union territory subject laced with central interventions in external terrain dimensions.
Invoking human rights in this domain in India, therefore, involves centre-state-UT cooperative federalism. It is only possible under common unified charter of central and local governments. It is practiced very well in India by the military and other terrain specific armed forces and law enforcement agencies. The author has been privy to many such incidents in the past including concern while dealing with apprehended pirates. They are not highlighted here. India’s maritime border areas are subjected to all kinds of perceivable unlawful activities including an unresolved border dispute that invites humanitarian issues. Central and state agencies of India involved in containing the issues are careful about the principles of human rights under the Act. In the non-military narrative they span over law enforcement, human employment, marine environment, interfacial marine environment, demographic displacements, resource exploitation, coastal and island administration, collaterals of sea level rise, etc. All these areas need exclusive investigation and continuing research for effective governance.
Good order and discipline in the ocean
The Constitution of India enshrines almost all the human rights provided in the various international conventions, covenants and treaties. There are also various statutes besides the Constitution to protect and promote human rights in India. This is also extended to the maritime regimes of India including coastal area governance such as ship breaking [12] in which India is considered to be the world’s largest. India has been careful to keep child labour away from this coastal industry. But there are global issues related to human abuse in the ocean. Child labour is endemic to the ocean too.
A proposed one stop solution according to the author [13] is establishing “good order and discipline at sea” with special emphasis on human rights in the governance of integrated coastal and maritime security. If applied, results will be visible over the coastal areas too. This subject is yet to garner the desired attention of governments and other concerned authorities seriously. One of the reasons is that national and international regimes find it too farfetched and constrained especially since the ocean is a global commons. The present international and national regimes do not directly cater for such an ensemble operation.
Hence establishing good order and discipline in the ocean has to be the outcome of overall global ocean governance. The author believes changes could be brought in by extending corporate social responsibility into the maritime domain as corporate ocean responsibility. It has to be voluntary under such time internationally affirmative regimes are established. The coast guards of the world can play a major role in establishing orderly stasis in the ocean among the stakeholders under common treaties and agreements towards good order and discipline of the ocean focused on human rights. Being non-adversarial armed forces (there are exceptions, though), the coast guards may be able to advocate human rights and justice for the protection of people at sea under a collective operational order. The international maritime agencies need to appreciate the principle of ocean order to establish human rights at sea.
Conclusions
The dimensions of integrated coastal and maritime security are nation-specific. They are within the adopted national security parameters but are influenced by the maritime security decision making especially on the national ocean property regime and interfacial environment and demographics. A government has to map them and review periodically as vital decision parameters. There could be various other government-specific approaches. One method may not fit for all. They have to be country and domain specific. The common issues that may impact all nations including landlocked are natural demographic shift by increase in demographic density, sea level rise, environmental issues and fallouts from conflicts within or elsewhere. Unlawful activities internal to the land, and at and from the sea will demand the attention of the governments and their enforcement agencies. While all out wars are unlikely, there are reasons to believe the conflict predicaments could be more serious than some of the wars the human system has witnessed so far.
There are laws of war especially related to the humanitarian aspects during wars and conflicts in this regard. They comprise the agreement under four conventions, known as the Geneva Convention with three additional protocols. They serve as the foundation of modern international humanitarian law. They are seemingly sufficient to protect victims of armed conflict wherever required. However, the role of governments in the evolving world doesn’t stop at one time efforts. Humanitarian support is continuous. The primary objective is to save lives, alleviate suffering, ameliorate pain and agony, induce confidence and hope under absolute human dignity exercising right to life for all. It is the ultimate that a government has to do in governance in the sapien world (Paleri, 2022) and is much beyond any other developmental activities.
[This paper was written as a research presentation during the security workshop held jointly by the School of Integrated coastal and maritime security (SICMSS) at Rashtriya Raksha University (an Institute of National Importance), Lavad, Gandhinagar, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on “21st century naval warfare and international humanitarian law: implications for coastal and maritime security (7-8 Dec 2022) Being published separately along with the proceedings of the workshop.]
End Notes
1. Former director general, Indian Coast Guard.
2. Paleri, P. (2002), National security: imperatives and challenges. Tata McGraw-Hill.
3. ibid
4. Paleri, P. (2022). Revisiting national security: prospecting governance for human well-being. Springer.
5. Wilson, C. (1984). A criminal history of mankind. Granada. P. 101.
6. Paleri, P. (2014). Business environment. Cengage. P. 16.
7. The author prefers four division identity of the ocean for strategic decision making where the Southern Ocean merges with the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans in a collective approach to Antarctica as a global commons in geostrategic security (an element of national security (Paleri, 2008)) studies.
8. Paleri, P. (2009). Marine environment: management and peoples’ participation. Knowledge World International. Chapter 2.
9. Ibid.
10. In strict terms the internal perimeter is the base line established hydrographically and recognised by the governments according to international law.
11. The subject is also strongly influenced by cyber space, the sixth terrain of national security which is non-physical.
12. The mention is especially about employment of child labour which is a serious human rights violation in ship-breaking industry. Term is according to ILO. It is also called ship recycling (IMO) and ship dismantling (Basel Convention).
13. Paleri, P. “Good order and discipline of the ocean—invoking corporate social responsibility” in “Good Order at Sea: India’s Role”. Proceedings of the Pondicherry University Seminar, December, 18-19, 2017. Studera Press.
