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2005 Human Security Report

The 2005 Human Security Report: War and Peace in the 21st Century is the first report of its kind to track and analyze trends in political violence around the world. Its findings are sharply at odds with conventional wisdom and shows that most forms of political violence have declined significantly since the end of the Cold War—and finds that the best explanation for this decline is the huge upsurge of conflict prevention, resolution and peace building activities that were spearheaded by the United Nations in the aftermath of the Cold War. Funded by five governments and published by Oxford University Press, the report took three years to compile. The 2005 report is the first Human Security Report issued by the Human Security Centre at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British-Columbia in Vancouver.

Ruder Finn's Global Issues Communications group worked with the Centre to announce the report to the foreign and international press by holding a press conference at the United Nations and providing top-tier news outlets an advanced copy of the report at a breakfast briefing.

 

 

OBJECTIVES

• Increase understanding of trends in political violence and human rights abuses that will help influence policy makers, government leaders, think thanks and NGOs.
• Redefine conventional Wisdom about political violence and solutions for its decline.
• Generate widespread coverage for the launch of the first Human Security Report.
• Position the Human Security Report as the first report of its kind and as the eminent reference tool to benchmark future success in conflict resolution and peace building.

PROGRAM

• Proposal and coordination of breakfast briefing that would provide select ambassadors, diplomats and top-tier media the opportunity to understand the report's findings and implications.
• Development and submission of bylined, opinion articles to top newspapers around the world.
• Development of all media relations materials, including media advisories, press releases, fact sheets and press kits.
• Aggressive media outreach to targeted outlets including wires, UN correspondents at national and international dailies, weeklies, national and international TV networks.
• Onsite management of press conference.
• Coordination and management of all press interviews.

RESULTS

• Attendance by select top-tier press at breakfast briefing included Associated Press, Globe and Mail and Agence France-Press.
• Attendance of U.N. press conference by Tribune de Geneve, UPI, BBC, Nikkei America, CNN, Associated Press, Reuters, The Brasilian, German Press Agency (DPA), Jiji Press, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Prensa Latina News Agence, The Los Angeles Times, Inter Press Service News Agency and ARD German Radio.
• National and international broadcast coverage included BBC World Service Radio, BBC World TV, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio, Canadian Broadcasting Association (CBC) radio, Canadian Broadcasting Association (CBC) TV, NPR, Radio France International and Radio Canada.
• National and international print and online coverage included Associated Press, Reuters, UPI, Agence France-Presse, Washington Post, The Los Angeles, The Economist, Christian Science Monitor, Australian Associated Press, The Age (Melbourne), Monday Morning (Beirut), Bangkok Post, Sydney Morning Herald, The Globe and Mail, The Ottawa Citizen, The National Business Review (New Zealand), Ireland On-Line, Montreal Gazette, BBC Web site, The Telegraph (UK), Voice of America News, The Australian, Le Monde, The Japan Times, Il Foglio (Italy), La Nacion (Argentina), El Universal (Mexico), El Mercurio (Chile), Daggens Nyheter (Stockholm) and BBC Slovak.com
• Overall, there was a combined total of more than 200 print, online and broadcast hits.