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Second Anniversary Statement

8 August 2016: Today, as we mark our second anniversary as an organisation, it is tempting to highlight the many ways and areas in which we have succeeded in making a positive difference. However, with the hope that our work would speak for itself, we feel more inclined to use this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our founding mission: to address current and emerging threats to human security around the world.

We will continue to do so:

  • in an independent fashion, engaging constructively with governments, political parties, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders, while ensuring our objectivity is not impaired and our integrity is not compromised at any point;
  • in a democratic fashion, celebrating diversity within our team by bringing together experts from across the political spectrum and who hold a range of different views and perspectives, but who share our vision and our hope for a freer, happier, safer and more secure world for all;
  • in an innovative fashion, recognising that we must embrace the opportunities presented by developments in media and technology to render us more effective as an organisation in promoting the values we hold dear: democracy, good governance, human rights;
  • in a sincere fashion, remembering at all times that our story is not about us or our goodness or our courage or even our failings, but about the people we have come together to serve, whose hopes and challenges drive us to work harder, more faithfully and more devotedly in their service;
  • in a sensitive fashion, bearing in mind that many of the security-related issues we grapple with – both threats and responses – are hugely serious, have life-changing and society-altering repercussions for many, cannot be engaged with ideologically, and must be dealt with cautiously, respectfully and sensitively.

The Human Security Centre is, as it has always been, a values-driven independent, non-partisan think-tank, and that is what it intends to remain for many decades to come. We thank our many friends, supporters and colleagues for enabling us to bring our vision to fruition every day.

About Dwayne Menezes

Dr Dwayne Ryan Menezes is Founder and Director of the Human Security Centre. He is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, and Head of the Secretariat of the APPG for Yemen in the UK Parliament. In recent years, he has served as Consultant to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, as Principal Consultant to the European Parliament Intergroup on the Freedom of Religion or Belief, and as Researcher to a United Nations Special Rapporteur. He read History at the LSE and University of Cambridge, graduating from the latter with a PhD; and then served as Visiting Academic at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford and as Postdoctoral Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London.