ABSTRACT
The concept of human security accommodates the consideration of a wide range of threats to life, of which poverty is undoubtedly the most significant. Poverty kills directly in huge numbers, when people are unable to secure sufficient food to live, because they lack the economic means to purchase or produce it. Additionally, poverty is an underlying cause of human death by other security threats. As Thomas states, ‘the pursuit of human security must have at its core the satisfaction of basic material needs of all humankind. At the most basic level, food, shelter, education and health care are essential for the survival of human beings’ (Thomas 2000: 7).
