Bhat Latumbo on Human Needs

1. All Humans Have Innate Human Needs. If these needs are not met, humans will not be able to thrive, or in many cases, survive.

2. Human Needs Can be Categorised in Three Groups:
l material
l social
l Cultural
3. Categories of Human Needs
l Material Needs
l include food, shelter, health care, and basic resources to survive physically
l Social Needs
l include a sense of respect, security, and predictability in relationships with others
l a sense of participation and self-determination in decisions that affect one’s life
l Cultural Needs
l include a sense of identity, religion and culture that help make sense of and give meaning to the world

4. Human Needs Are Pursued at Any Cost

l The drive to satisfy these needs controls human behavior
l people who can fulfill their needs act in “good” ways
l those who cannot fulfil their needs act in “bad” ways

5. The Frustration or Denial of Human Needs Leads
l Conflictual Behavior
l Sense of Trauma
l Violence
6. Being Able to Satisfy Human Needs Leads to Constructive Conflict Behavior and Conflict Transformation

7. There are Multiple Ways of Satisfying Human Needs
l while human needs are not negotiable, the ways to satisfy human needs are negotiable

8. Violence Cannot Satisfy Human Needs and Therefore Cannot Solve Conflicts
Examples of Violent Behaviour
l Threats,
l Efforts to Deter,
l and, Punishments for Certain Behaviours
All are ineffective at changing the behaviours of people trying to satisfy basic human needs.

9. The Only Way to Change Behaviours and to Transform Conflict is to Satisfy Basic Human Needs

10. A Key Task for Peace builders is to
l Help People Identify Unmet Needs and
l Create A Process to Develop Ways of Satisfying the Human Needs Of All People in the Conflict

11. Human Needs Are Human Rights
l Humans Have a “Right” to What They “Need.”
l Human Needs Frameworks and Human Rights Frameworks provide analytical tools to help understand why conflict happens and provide a model for how to transform conflict