Challenges to Human Security in Central Asia: The Impact of the Aral Sea Crisis and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ever since the Central Asian states achieved their untimely independence, they have witnessed security challenges emanating from ethnic conflicts, interstate conflicts, terrorism, radicalism, and civil wars. But with the dawn of the new century, apart from these state-centric security challenges, there has emerged a new dimension of threat that is detrimental to human development and well-being. Economic insecurity, food insecurity, health insecurity, environmental insecurity, personal or physical insecurity, insecurity of communal life, and political insecurity are all a result of these new threats. These threats have become far more challenging in the absence of a rule of law, a weak governance system, and large-scale misappropriation of resources by the political elites. Given this context, the paper focuses on the challenges to human security in Central Asia. It finds that these challenges have become more acute after the Aral Sea Crisis and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, it assesses the role of the EU and the US in promoting human security in the region.