On 16 October, Baroness Brown of Silvertown, member of the APPG, secured a debate in the House of Lords on the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The date marked World Food Day, a day that commemorates the creation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945. Despite this commemoration, hunger and malnutrition continue to rise.
Baroness Brown opened the debate by sharing the devastating reality that last year over 295 million people faced acute hunger. And how in armed conflicts, both intranational and international, hunger is increasingly used as a deliberate strategy of warfare and control, despite being recognised as a war crime in the Rome statute and UN Security Council Resolutions 2417 and 2573. She paid particular focus to the crisis in Sudan where over half the country—more than 24 million people—is now in acute food insecurity and Famine has been declared and continues to spread. She called on the UK to all our influence on the international stage and within the UN to build a coalition of the willing and to protect the people of Sudan.
She also spoke about Gaza, quoting a mother in Gaza City: “We fast for days, just to leave something for the children. Sometimes, there is nothing—only water. At night they cry, saying, ‘Mama, we’re hungry’. I hold them and say, ‘You’ll eat in heaven’, and then I cry when they fall asleep”. She closed by calling for a united and urgent response to ensure the upholding of international legal norms, and the need for accountability for those who have deliberately starved populations as a method of war and control.
Next, Baroness Helic spoke of her own family’s experience of when starvation was wielded as a weapon and for more than 1,400 days during the siege of Sarajevo. During that time, 11,500 civilians were killed, including more than 1,600 children. She shared how sadly, sieges are not ancient history, with the forced hunger and deprivation that we have seen in Syria, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Sudan and Gaza that follows the same tactics. Civilians are reduced to begging for scraps or denied access to humanitarian relief convoys, even as they wait only a few hundred metres away. She also spoke about how civilians in Gaza have been starved, denied basic medical support and stripped of dignity and hope. A cruel collective punishment was inflicted on them, which resulted in a manmade famine. She made clear that we do not lack legal means to stop these actions from happening, but what is missing is moral and political courage.
Next Lord Oates spoke of how we can ensure accountability when starvation is used as a weapon of war, given the prevalence of such actions is increasing by state and non-state actors. He spoke of the need for the UK to ratify the amendment to Article 8 of the Rome statute to extend the prohibition of starvation as a weapon of war to all conflicts. He also spoke of the need to put UN Security Council Resolutions 2417, 2573 and 2730 at the heart of UK diplomatic efforts to prevent starvation being used as a weapon of war and to protect humanitarian workers – and where these resolutions are violated, the need to impose meaningful economic and other sanctions.
Lord Oates also spoke about the role that malnutrition plays in destabilising societies and contributing to conflict. People who are not getting the food they need may increasingly be inclined to support, or be recruited by, armed groups to ensure food security, shelter and physical protection. The vicious cycle of conflict will not be broken without tackling malnutrition, because nutrition is so foundational to individual, societal and economic development.
Lord Mohammed of Tinsley was next to speak, reminding us that access to food is not a privilege but a fundamental human right, one that the international community vowed to protect when it said “never again” to the suffering and cruelty of total war. Yet across the world, food, water and humanitarian aid are being turned into instruments of war and tools of political coercion. He noted that the Government should: ratify the 2019 amendment to the Rome statute; deploy every diplomatic, legal and economic tool available to hold violators to account—whether state or non-state actors, allies or adversaries—including targeted sanctions against those who obstruct humanitarian access or manipulate essential resources such as food and water; restore its commitment to international development in nutrition, food security and climate resilience; and consistently and principally apply international law.
Lord Browne of Ladyton was next to speak. He spoke of the need of the UK to ratify the 2019 amendment to the Rome statute, as well as the need to restore ODA levels and ensure that the UK’s remaining aid is directed towards reducing violence and protecting civilians. He spoke of the specific example of Israel’s deliberate deprivation of food to people in Gaza, and the need for the UK to apply international law consistently and the need to press Israel continuously to comply with its obligations to ensure humanitarian access is immediately and unconditionally restored.
Lord Bruce spoke of his own experience as previous chair of the International Development Committee, and the importance of bearing witness, accountability and the need to prove intention, when starvation is a deliberate act of war. He also spoke of the aid cuts being a mistake and the link to migration and our own national interest.
Lord Callanan spoke for the official opposition and spoke of his worry that reports of starvation being used as a weapon of war are still in abundance and getting worse across the world.
Lord Collins responded for the Government and started by highlighting millions of people are dangerously malnourished because of conflict, and too often this malnourishment has devastating consequences, in particular for children. It has severe and often irreversible impacts on their physical growth, cognitive development and immune system, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and ill health. He noted that addressing nutrition is the foundation for real change and that the Government acknowledge that the deliberate deprivation of food, water and other essentials for civilian survival is a growing and persistent threat.
The Minister referred to the Government’s legal handbook on conflict, hunger and international humanitarian law, which is a guide for diplomats, lawyers and Armed Forces, as well as an advocacy tool, setting out what the law requires of all parties to conflict, including non-state armed groups. He noted that the UK’s position on ratification of the amendment to Article 8 of the Rome Statute remains under review.
You can read the debate in full, here.