War is devastating lives around the world by Interpeace, Kofi Annan Foundation, Reliefweb 11:20am 25th Sep, 2024   Oct. 2025    World Food Program says funding cuts are causing acute hunger.    Drastic cuts to international aid mean that the world’s neediest people are suffering from serious food shortages, and will face further reductions in assistance soon, Carl Skau, deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the World Food Program, said.    “We are managing globally a perfect storm with food security needs going up dramatically,” Skau told news agencies. “We’ve seen a three-fold increase only in the past five years, and this year has been really tough also with conflict increasing, extreme climate events and on top of that we now have a funding crunch where the WFP is losing some 40% of our funding.”    The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year to cut more than 90% of the United States Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall assistance around the world — coupled with cuts to international aid from several European countries — has meant that the WFP and other humanitarian agencies have less means to respond, he said.    Conflicts in Myanmar, Sudan and Gaza have made it extremely difficult to reach people in need, and the latter two are already facing famine conditions. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar in March has led to even greater needs there, and new challenges in reaching people with humanitarian assistance. The civil war in Myanmar has also meant that even more Rohingya refugees have fled to Cox’s Bazar in neighboring Bangladesh, and there are no immediate prospects for them to safely return home, Skau said.    “So we have a situation where we basically have 1.3 million people in a camp that is like a prison where they do 100% depend on international assistance,” said Skau, who visited Cox’s Bazar earlier this month.    The WFP currently provides refugees there with a $12 monthly voucher for food that has just been enough for them to survive, but with funding running out for that by the end of November, it may have to either reduce the amount or the number of people it supports.    Worldwide, sharply shrinking humanitarian aid is having a catastrophic effect on the most vulnerable people - even as hunger reaches record highs. A new WFP report, A Lifeline at Risk, shows how a 40 percent drop in donations to WFP operations this year could push up to 13.7 million current WFP aid recipients from crisis into emergency food insecurity. Known as IPC Phase 4, the latter is the second-highest hunger level set by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the global authority.    For six hotspot countries - Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan - the ramifications are especially dire, with WFP forced to shrink or end food assistance for millions by year's end. The cuts are hitting some of the world's hungriest communities, already reeling from conflict, displacement and climate shocks. Children, women, refugees and internally displaced people will be among the most affected.    And it is only the beginning. The overall fallout of reduced aid will be felt months later, the report warns, and could “severely undermine global food security.”    “This is why we call it a ‘slow burn’ in the report,” says Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of WFP’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service. “Because the cuts haven’t fully fed through the system yet to all countries and communities.”    As WFP and other humanitarian operations shrink and shut, the broader fallout could be equally devastating. “These cuts are triggering additional food insecurity that in itself could have impacts at the country and regional levels,” says Bauer, adding this could affect “the stability of some very fragile countries.”    In Somalia, where 4.4 million people face high levels of hunger, just 350,000 will receive WFP food assistance next month, down from 2.2 million a year ago - even as severe drought grips the Horn of Africa nation.    http://www.wfp.org/stories/afghanistan-south-sudan-shrinking-aid-spiking-hunger http://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000168974/download/ http://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis http://www.fsinplatform.org/grfc-2025-september-update http://www.fsinplatform.org/report/global-report-food-crises-2025/ http://www.ipcinfo.org/ http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2025/09/110606/uns-humanitarian-work-underfunded-overstretched-and-under-attack    http://humanitarianaction.info/document/hyper-prioritized-global-humanitarian-overview-2025-cruel-math-aid-cuts http://humanitarianaction.info/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-humanitarian-overview-2025-september-update-snapshot-30-september-2025 http://www.unocha.org/latest/news-and-stories    Apr. 2025    The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that 58 million people risk losing life-saving assistance in the agency’s 28 most critical crisis response operations unless new funding is received urgently.    WFP is experiencing a steep decline in funding across its major donors. The severity of these cuts, combined with record levels of people in need, have led to an unprecedented crisis for tens of millions across the globe reliant on food aid.    Right now, the organization is facing an alarming 40 percent drop in funding for 2025, as compared to last year. This is having severe repercussions for its food aid efforts globally, particularly emergency feeding programmes that support the most vulnerable.    “WFP is prioritizing countries with the greatest needs and stretching food rations at the frontlines. While we are doing everything possible to reduce operational costs, make no mistake, we are facing a funding cliff with life-threatening consequences,” said Rania Dagash-Kamara, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships. “Emergency feeding programmes not only save lives and alleviate human suffering, they bring greatly needed stability to fragile communities, which can spiral downwards when faced with extreme hunger.”    Today, global hunger is skyrocketing as 343 million people face severe food insecurity, driven by an unrelenting wave of global crises including conflict, economic instability, and climate-related emergencies.    In 2025, WFP’s operations are focused on supporting just over one-third of those in need - roughly 123 million of the world’s hungriest people - nearly half of whom (58 million) are at imminent risk of losing access to food assistance.    Last year, WFP teams helped feed more than 120 million people in 80 countries, delivering urgent food aid to hunger hot spots and frontline crises around the world.    As WFP works to quickly adapt its operations to current low funding levels, it is alerting donors that its 28 most critical crisis response operations are facing severe funding constraints and dangerously low food supplies through August.    The 28 programmes span: Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, South Sudan, Chad, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Uganda, Niger, Burkina Faso, DRC, Yemen, Mali, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Haiti, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Ukraine, Malawi, Burundi, Ethiopia, Palestine, Central African Republic, Jordan, and Egypt.    Below are a few examples of these programmes.    Sudan: WFP requires nearly US$570 million to support over 7 million people per month in Sudan where a looming pipeline break will hit as early as April. Famine was first confirmed in Zamzam camp near the embattled city of El Fasher and has since spread to 10 areas across North Darfur and the Western Nuba mountains. In Sudan 24.6 million people do not have enough to eat.    Delays in funding to deliver emergency food assistance, emergency nutrition and emergency logistics will cut a vital lifeline for millions with immediate and devastating consequences for vulnerable populations, who in many cases are just one step away from starvation.    Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): WFP requires US$399 million to feed 6.4 million as escalating violence by militia groups in the east has already displaced more than a million people. Food and nutrition assistance across the DRC is vital to stabilize the region and reach the most vulnerable who have already been displaced by conflict multiple times.    Palestine: WFP emergency response requires approximately US$265 million over the next six months to provide support to nearly 1.4 million people in Gaza and the West Bank.    An additional US$34 million is urgently needed for 3-month shock-responsive cash transfer assistance to support 40,000 families in the West Bank. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical with over 2 million people fully dependent on food assistance – most of them displaced, without shelter and income.    Syria: WFP requires US$140 million to provide food and nutrition assistance to 1.2 million people every month. Without new funding, WFP faces a funding shortfall in August which would cut off food assistance to one million of the most severely food-insecure individuals. Any disruption in life-saving assistance threatens to erode stability and social cohesion during a critical moment when millions of Syrians try to return home.    Lebanon: WFP requires US$162 million to feed 1.4 million people as severe funding shortfalls are already disrupting food assistance to vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugees – fostering instability and heightened social tensions. With an ongoing economic crisis and government transition in Lebanon, food insecurity continues to rise with one in three already facing acute hunger.    South Sudan: WFP requires US$281 million to provide food and nutrition assistance to 2.3 million people escaping war, climate extremes, and an economic disaster - plunging them into a severe hunger crisis. South Sudan has also seen more than one million people arrive, fleeing from the war in Sudan.    Nearly two-thirds of the people in South Sudan are acutely food insecure. New funding for WFP’s crisis response activities in South Sudan is needed now.    Myanmar: WFP requires US$60 million to provide life-saving food assistance to 1.2 million people. Increased conflict, displacement and access restrictions are already sharply driving up food aid needs.    Haiti: WFP requires US$10 million to feed 1.3 million as brutal violence by armed groups has caused record levels of hunger and displacement. Half the population is facing extreme hunger and a quarter of the children under the age of five are stunted.    More than a million people have been forced from their homes, including a record 60,000 in just one month this year. WFP has been providing hot meals and cash assistance to displaced people, but without new funding, that lifesaving assistance could be suspended in the coming weeks.    Sahel and Lake Chad Basin: WFP requires US$570 million to reach 5 million people with life-saving food and nutrition assistance. Without new funding a pipeline break is expected in April. Millions of the most vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Nigeria in need of emergency support also face dire consequences as the June to August lean season approaches. At current funding levels, five million people risk losing critical support from WFP in the months ahead.    * The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.    http://www.wfp.org/news/tens-millions-risk-extreme-hunger-and-starvation-unprecedented-funding-crisis-spirals http://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis http://www.wfp.org/news/persistent-violence-and-displacement-lead-record-hunger-haiti-needs-skyrocket http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-runs-out-food-stocks-gaza-border-crossings-remain-closed http://www.wfp.org/news/conflict-and-rising-food-prices-drive-congolese-one-worlds-worst-food-crises-according-new-ipc http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-calls-urgent-access-preposition-food-sudan-rainy-season-risks-cutting-roads-starving http://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/two-years-since-the-start-of-the-conflict-sudan-is-facing/en http://www.wfp.org/stories/people-south-sudan-deserve-freedom-prisons-conflict-and-hunger http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-warns-rising-hunger-and-malnutrition-ethiopia-humanitarian-needs-outpace-resources http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-calls-urgent-investment-prevent-child-wasting-leaders-convene-nutrition-growth-summit http://www.ipcinfo.org/ http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/hunger-hotspots-fao-wfp-early-warnings-acute-food-insecurity-november-2024-may-2025-outlook http://www.fao.org/giews/country-analysis/external-assistance/en/ http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-2025-global-outlook http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2025    July 2024    “Conflict-induced acute food crises: potential policy responses in light of current emergencies”, new issues paper of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN)    Today, we face the tragic consequences of multiple conflict-induced starvation and acute food insecurity crises. Almost 282 million people in 59 countries experience high levels of acute food insecurity that threaten their lives and livelihoods, thus requiring emergency action as a matter of life and death.    These crises are due to interlinked and superimposed structural vulnerabilities such as state fragility and pre-existing tensions often associated with conflicts, extreme weather, climate change, and economic shocks.    Conflict-related disruptions to supply chains for cereals and agricultural inputs (such as those originating in the Russia-Ukraine conflict) are having adverse impacts around the world and especially on food-insecure countries in Africa, the Near East and Asia.    Food crises escalated alarmingly in 2023, as nearly 24 million more people faced high levels of acute food insecurity compared to the previous year. This includes 20 countries where 135 million people are in a food crisis because of war and protracted conflicts including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, Gaza and Sudan, the last two of which the new HLPE-FSN Issues paper focuses on.    It is essential to reaffirm that it is first and foremost for states and parties to the conflict to uphold their responsibilities under the applicable legal frameworks for ensuring the right to food in contexts of acute food insecurity.    Humanitarian aid plays a critical role in filling gaps in situations where states themselves are unable or unwilling to meet the basic needs of their populations. In many of today’s conflicts, the humanitarian system is in essence asked to take over basic functions from states and parties to the conflict.    The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has a mandate and a responsibility to identify critical, emerging and enduring issues and assist the CFS and its Members to prioritize policies and actions so that it may provide immediate responses when necessary, based on existing scientific evidence on the short-, medium- and long-term consequences of conflict on food security and nutrition.    The purpose of this brief is to explore how the international community can respond effectively to conflict-induced acute food crises by providing a series of action-oriented policy recommendations. In this regard, the HLPE-FSN urges institutional cooperation, and – most importantly – encourages political cooperation in response to conflict-induced acute food crises, wherever such crises might occur.    The HLPE-FSN brief analyses the current conflicts in Gaza and Sudan and their impact on acute food insecurity, as well as the risks of starvation and famine. Even though the special circumstances in these two places are very different, the adverse impacts of conflict on food systems and human health are very similar.    It also reflects upon how international law, human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law contain norms that apply to protect people in conflict against severe violations of the right to adequate food.    By analyzing these legal provisions, the paper underscores the imperative of safeguarding food security amidst the turmoil of conflict, ensuring that the fundamental human right to adequate food is upheld even in the most challenging circumstances.    The international community needs to promote the humanitarian-development-peace nexus to prevent conflict-related hunger crises while building long-term sustainable and equitable food systems.    http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/insights/news-insights/news-detail/new-issues-paper--conflict-induced-acute-food-crises--potential-policy-responses-in-light-of-current-emergencies/en http://www.fightfoodcrises.net/hunger-hotspots http://www.fsinplatform.org/global-report-food-crises-2024-mid-year-update    Apr. 2024    Conflict’s long shadow has a Name: It’s Hunger, writes Dr. Charles E. Owubah. (Action Against Hunger)    Scarce food and drinking water. Limited and inconsistent healthcare. Rapidly deteriorating mental health. With conflict on the rise globally, this is the grim reality for millions around the world.    April 7th will mark the sixth-month anniversary of the attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, which has killed over 30,000 people. It has left millions without shelter, medicine, food or clean water. Without intervention, 50% of Gaza’s population is at imminent risk of famine.    While this tragedy understandably dominates global headlines, there are countless hostilities that don’t make the news. Many bear grim similarities to Gaza, but the striking difference is that other places are seemingly invisible, their people left to suffer in conflict’s dark shadow as hunger and an ever-rising death toll becomes the norm.    Though the ups and downs of fighting can be unpredictable, the link between conflict and hunger is not. Over 85% of people experiencing hunger crises worldwide live in conflict-affected countries.    Hunger can be both a trigger and a consequence of conflict; limited resources can drive disputes for food and the means to produce it, and conflict can disrupt harvests and force families from their homes.    Climate change makes it even harder for people to cope, since heatwaves, droughts and floods further lower crop yields and access to support.    Gender-based violence also increases during conflict. This can include sexual based violence, forced or early marriage, and intimate partner violence. Violence against women and girls is sometimes even used as a weapon of war.    For vulnerable populations trapped in forgotten crises, humanitarian aid–or the lack of it–can mean the difference between life and death.    In Eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), for example, rampant violence has left nearly 7 million Congolese internally displaced, making it the second-largest crisis of this kind anywhere in the world. Hundreds of thousands are hungry and need immediate humanitarian assistance.    Since January’s upsurge in conflict, Action Against Hunger health facilities in the region have admitted four times the number of severely malnourished children under five years old.    Outside the city of Goma and across North Kivu province, where there are almost 2.4 million displaced people, violence has stopped families from returning to their homes for weeks or months at a time, leaving them largely unable to grow food and few resources to buy it.    The fighting has involved indiscriminate targeting of civilians and infrastructure, militarization of camps for internally displaced people, and blockades on key supply routes.    Many families struggle to find basic necessities, let alone afford them. Humanitarian organizations can’t deliver much-needed assistance. People are increasingly destitute and desperate.    Similarly, in Sudan, a year of conflict has left almost 18 million people – one third of the country’s population – acutely food insecure. The conflict is primarily focused around the capital of Khartoum, with a devastating effect on the whole country. Around 10% of the population is on the brink of famine.    With key trade routes compromised, shortages of food, fuel, medicines and other basic supplies means prices are soaring, and the limited goods are out of reach of most families. A large-scale cholera outbreak is causing the situation to deteriorate further.    The disease leads to diarrhea and worsens malnutrition. It is so contagious even one case must be treated as an epidemic; Sudan has seen more than 10,000 cases, and counting. Cholera can kill within hours if not treated, but medical help is in short supply.    Violence prevents humanitarian workers from accessing hard-hit communities, leaving many without access to food, healthcare and basic necessities.    As a result, millions have fled their homes in search of food and safety. Nearly 11 million people are displaced, whether internally, in neighboring nations or scattered around the world. It is also the world’s largest child displacement crisis, impacting four million children. Some are with family, some entirely on their own.    In Yemen, nine years of war has destroyed huge swaths of the country’s infrastructure and left 17.6 million people, more than half the population, dependent on food aid. Every day, Yemeni families struggle to secure basics like food, clean water, and staples like cooking fuel, soap and other household supplies.    After the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, hostilities around the Red Sea and the recent U.S. designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization are combining to pose new challenges in an already complex region.    The U.S. designation effectively criminalized key transactions necessary for the imports Yemen relies on for 85% of its food, fuel supplies, and almost all medical supplies.    The stress of living under constant pressure to meet their most basic needs, and an estimated 377,000 conflict-related deaths, has meant Yemen also faces a severe mental health crisis.    More than a quarter of Yemenis—over eight million people—suffer from mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. According to surveys by Action Against Hunger and other data, the continuing conflict, forced displacement, deteriorating economic situation, poverty, and food shortages are exacerbating the prevalence of mental health challenges.    Despite the rising death tolls, unimaginable suffering and ongoing violence, these conflicts are largely forgotten. So are countless others. Funding for hunger-related aid is woefully insufficient.    In 2023, only 35% of appeals from countries dealing with crisis levels of hunger were satisfied, according to the Action Against Hunger 2023 Hunger Funding Gap Report.    Ignoring these crises means a terrible cost, both to the people impacted and also to ourselves. Today, the world is so small and interconnected that massive instability anywhere has ripples everywhere.    Of course, the ideal solution is peace. Until then, we need the international community to advocate for safe humanitarian access in conflict zones. We also need greater funding for the most basic of human rights, such as food and access to healthcare. Bringing attention to these forgotten crises is the first step toward both.    That is why we continue to call on the international community and major donors to prioritize the world’s most vulnerable and to dramatically increase funding, especially through investment in locally-led NGOs that focus on gender in their programming.    While emergency aid is essential, we also need funding for long term approaches that build resilience, helping at-risk populations create their own path to a more secure future.    http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/conflicts-long-shadow-has-a-name-its-hunger http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/global-hunger-funding-gap-hit-65-percent-for-neediest-countries/ http://www.fsinplatform.org/report/global-report-food-crises-2024/ http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan http://www.wfp.org/stories/2023-pictures-ration-cuts-threaten-catastrophe-millions-facing-hunger http://www.wfp.org/stories/one-year-sudans-war-its-people-yearn-peace-amid-soaring-hunger http://www.wfp.org/stories/haitians-deserve-better-wfp-calls-funds-and-resources-gang-violence-fuels-hunger http://www.wfp.org/stories/hunger-gaza-famine-findings-dark-mark-world-says-wfp-palestine-country-director http://www.wfp.org/conflict-and-hunger http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/en/ http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/resources/alerts-archive/en/ http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2024/article/worsening-hunger-crisis-requires-global-response-across-all-sectors    Sep. 2024    The Kofi Annan Foundation and Interpeace are calling a peace emergency. Our aim is to remind the world that conflict prevention works, leaders are responsible for every life lost, and dialogue and collaboration must be restored and expanded.    We live -again- in a time of war. And we seem resigned to it. Levels of violent conflict are higher than at any time since the end of the Second World War. Global defense spending is the highest-ever recorded. Military expenditure increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, reaching $2443 billion.    While states may be prioritizing military strength to address volatile geopolitical and security dynamics, their efforts have failed to arrest violent conflicts, which are growing not just in numbers, but in severity and length.    War is now waged in a way that exacerbates civilian harm, with civilian deaths rising rapidly. There are more casualties today from fighting in Darfur than there were 20 years ago. The daily death rate in Gaza has surpassed any other major conflict in this century.    And yet we know that violent responses most often beget new forms of violence and fuel cycles of conflict over generations. Any return on investment for war-driven approaches will never outweigh the immeasurable cost of violent conflict in terms of the loss of lives, livelihoods and infrastructure and wider social harms.    According to the 2023 Global Peace Index, the impact of violence on the global economy amounted to $17.5 trillion in 2022. Research has shown, on the other hand, that each dollar invested in peacebuilding will lead to a $16 decline in the cost of conflict.    If we truly want to reverse current trends and advance peace, we must invest urgently in sustaining and expanding peacemaking and peacebuilding work at a scale that has not been attempted in decades.    By “peace,” we don’t just mean the absence of war. Changing how the world invests in peace requires a total rethink of how we define it.    We see peace as a state where social, economic, and political relationships are free from violence and coercion, allowing people to envision a future without fear or injustice and with security and dignity. This is a complex endeavor that requires resources, hard work and expertise.    When world leaders gather at the Summit of the Future in New York later this month, they must declare their determination to restore and strengthen dialogue and cooperation against all odds. They must commit to investing massively in peace as the best way to ensure stability and security for their people.    And we must hold them accountable for every life lost in war, every livelihood destroyed, every hospital or school blown up, every child starved in man-made famines.    The current narrative presents war as inevitable. We must counter it by highlighting the numerous examples of successful actions for the prevention of conflicts, the restoration and consolidation of peace.    We know that peace work actually works. We see it every day. It works when we act beyond short-term projects to deliver solutions that span current and future generations. It works when peace actors cooperate and join forces rather than compete for shrinking resources. It works when women are at the center of all peace action and have access to decision-making and when young people drive the solutions for their problems.    There will be no future, no future generations, no future for the planet, without peace. We are calling a Peace Emergency.    http://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/news/calling-a-peace-emergency/    25 Sep. 2024    International Peace Institute President Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric discuss the Necessity for Limitations on War and Respect for the Geneva Conventions.    The interview addressed the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, highlighting their status as a robust global normative framework despite recent violations in conflicts such as Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan. Underscoring the current conflicts’ unique challenges, it was noted that while violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) are not new, the scale and visibility of these breaches have intensified.    The interview also delved into underutilized tools that could enhance the enforcement of IHL and strengthen its principles, and the need for more effective international collaboration.    http://www.ipinst.org/2024/09/ipi-president-and-icrc-president-discuss-the-limitations-on-war-and-respect-for-the-geneva-convention http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-president-mirjana-spoljaric-international-humanitarian-law-was-created-move-beyond-division http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/geneva-conventions-75th-anniversary-reaffirm-commitment-ihl-and-make-it-political http://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/icrc-president-mirjana-spoljaric-human-life-is-human-life http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/un-idenw http://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/arms-trade-treaty-must-be-faithfully-implemented-prevent-serious-violations    * Year in Review: UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs: http://dppa.medium.com/year-in-review-working-to-put-a-dent-in-global-crises-and-conflict-fd060c8fd892 http://dppa.medium.com/new-mid-year-report-highlights-vital-role-of-the-multi-year-appeal-in-enabling-prevention-8e024dcd9771 http://dppa.un.org/en    May 2023    Statement by members of the NGO Working Group on the Protection of Civilians:    Civilians are increasingly shouldering the burden of conflicts around the world. Today, 2 billion people - a quarter of humanity - live in places affected by conflict, as conflicts themselves are not only more numerous, but increasing in duration, lethality, and size.    Civilians are facing extreme levels of humanitarian need, displacement, and food insecurity, with a disproportionate impact on women and girls, people with disabilities, older people, and other potentially marginalised groups.    This year’s Secretary-General’s Protection of Civilians (POC) report and the Security Council’s Open Debate brings a strong focus on conflict and hunger. Five years after UN Security Council resolution 2417, in which the Council unanimously recognized that conflict-induced food insecurity and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access threaten international peace and security, civilians find themselves in the midst of the most severe global hunger and malnutrition crisis in modern history. An expected 345.2 million people are projected to be food insecure this year – more than double the number in 20201.    Conflict is the main driver of hunger in many of the world's most severe food crises. The deliberate destruction of food, livelihoods and civilian infrastructure has become a widespread tactic in conflicts where land and productive assets are deliberately targeted.    At the same time humanitarian assistance is withheld, with physical and bureaucratic impediments used to restrict civilians’ access to food and to force them to flee their homes and communities.    Despite protections afforded to civilians in conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL), international human rights law (IHRL), UNSCR 2417, as well as UNSCR 2573 – which, in 2021, condemned attacks against objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population – violations of IHL and IHRL continue to have far-reaching effects on conflict-induced food insecurity and, all too often, they take place with near impunity. Starvation has been used as a method of warfare in active conflicts today.    Fighting in cities and towns involves the use of increasingly powerful explosive weapons with wide area effects. Between 2011-2020, on average civilians constituted 90% of those killed and wounded from attacks carried out with explosive weapons in populated areas. Nearly half of all verified child casualties in conflict are from explosive weapons and the remnants of war.    Beyond the direct harm to civilians, damage to critical civilian infrastructure impacts food production and availability, access to safe water and sanitation, electricity, and other essential services. This has long-lasting impacts on civilians’ health, nutrition, safety, and wellbeing, with consequences that can last for decades after a war has ended.    Even indirectly, conflict on one side of the world can have far reaching impacts on civilians in other regions, fuelling global economic crises, eroding local support systems, and inflating food prices, as evidenced by recent conflicts.    This further weakens communities' resilience, ability to access and purchase food, and contributes to the erosion of decades of hard-won development gains.    The ripple effects of conflicts, combined with climate variability, drought, and skyrocketing cost of living make the situation even worse for women and girls, who play a crucial role across food and water systems and in feeding their families and communities.    Households have less access to positive coping mechanisms, which elevates the risk of children being forced to drop out of school, gender based violence, women and girls being coerced into exchanging sex for food, and forced marriage including child marriage.    Entrenched gender inequalities and gender norms surrounding food consumption disproportionately increase the vulnerability of women and girls to hunger and malnutrition and contributed to an estimated 150 million more women than men going hungry in 2021. In addition, persons with disabilities, in particular women and children, face additional barriers accessing food during armed conflict.    The climate crisis and conflict-related environmental degradation have compounded the detrimental impacts of food insecurity for civilians in conflict through a mutually reinforcing cycle.    Climate change increases the scale and complexity of existing protection challenges and vulnerabilities, in particular in situations where civilians are already facing resource scarcity and conflict-related insecurity.    Conflict also exacerbates environmental degradation by damaging and endangering ecosystems and critical environmental infrastructure including the destruction of agricultural fields and the pollution of soil and water systems. These effects pose potentially lethal and long-lasting risks to civilian lives and livelihoods.    Meanwhile, conflicts also contribute to the weakening and breakdown of governance systems, as well as mitigation, and resilience capacities, creating conditions in which communities have fewer safety nets to counter the impacts of climate risks and environmental harm.    Protecting civilians has too often been understood only through the prism of compliance with IHL, but this is the bare minimum. Current patterns of harm and long-term effects of hostilities including on hunger and the environment highlight the need for policies and practices that effectively address the full protection of civilians in all their diversity.    http://reliefweb.int/report/world/statement-members-ngo-working-group-protection-civilians http://www.globalr2p.org/resources/statement-group-of-friends-unsc-open-debate-on-protection-of-civilians/ http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/more-than-85-of-people-facing-hunger-crises-live-in-conflict-affected-countries/    May 2023    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ remarks to the United Nations Security Council’s open debate on “Protection of civilians in armed conflict”:    Less than six weeks have passed since war erupted in Sudan. Many civilians have been killed; hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country; hospitals have been occupied and attacked; the price of goods is reported to have quadrupled in parts of the country; and aid warehouses have been looted on a massive scale. Terrible as this picture is, it is far from unique.    My report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict in 2022 shows that war is devastating lives around the world.    Explosive weapons continue to wreak havoc, especially in the cities: Last year, 94 per cent of their victims in populated areas were civilians.    Those able to flee the fighting did so in record numbers: The total number forced from their homes due to conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution reached 100 million refugees.    Health facilities and schools were devastated, and their workers injured, kidnapped and killed. At least 2000 schools were destroyed in three regions of Ethiopia alone.    Humanitarians also faced regular threats. Their work was hampered by violence, bureaucracy and politics, and obstructed by overly broad sanctions and counter-terrorism measur    In Afghanistan, the ban by the de facto authorities on women working in the humanitarian aid sector is having life-threatening consequences for women and girls.    War means hunger. Armed conflict is a key factor driving food insecurity around the world. Last year, more than 117 million people faced acute hunger primarily because of war and insecurity. This is an outrage.    Damage to critical infrastructure hampers food production, blocks distribution and deprives people of safe water: Syria now has 40 per cent less drinking water than at the start of the conflict. Fighters destroy crops and steal livestock; explosives contaminate fertile land; markets cannot function; and prices rocket.    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contributed to the rise in the price of food, energy and fertilizer globally, with terrible effects for the world’s poorest.    And when conflict combines with the climate crisis, harvests shrink and people go hungry. I saw this for myself during my recent visit to Somalia. After years of war, Somalis have been going through their worst drought in decades.    An estimated 43,000 people died as a result in 2022 alone, half of them children, and millions have been forced from their homes.    There has been a few actions over the past year to alleviate the impact of conflict on civilians. Some parties to conflicts have taken steps to protect children, allow humanitarians to gain access to those in need.    Last November, States adopted a political declaration to protect civilians by restricting or refraining from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. I urge all states to join and turn the declaration into meaningful action.    And in December, the Security Council adopted resolution 2664 (2022), which aims to prevent United Nations sanctions from harming civilians and obstructing humanitarian action. I urge all States to implement it and to exclude humanitarian and medical activities from their own counter-terrorism and sanctions measures.    These modest steps are welcome. But the terrible truth is that the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect civilians; commitments enshrined in international humanitarian law.    The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols are the cornerstone of that legal framework. And I pay tribute to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the guardian of those treaties: You meet danger and brutality with bravery, compassion and humanity, and you will always have my full support.    ICRC’s role is unique. It has a mandate to respond, and that mandate must be respected: by every Government, every armed group and every fighter.    We must never lose sight of the meaning and purpose of international humanitarian law: It is the difference between life and death; between restraint and anarchy; between losing ourselves in horror and retaining our humanity.    But law overlooked is law undermined. We need action and accountability to ensure it is respected. That depends on political will. Peace is the best form of protection.    We must intensify our efforts to prevent conflict, protect civilians, preserve peace and find political solutions to war.    Where war continues, all countries must comply with international humanitarian law and members of this Council have a particular responsibility. Governments should incorporate international humanitarian law into national laws and military rules and training.    Humanitarians must be assured safe access. Attacks against them must cease. And their work must be facilitated, including by removing deadly bureaucratic barriers. It is unconscionable that vital aid languishes in ports and warehouses while people die.    The UN Security Council has a special role to play in urging States to respect the rules of war. Governments with influence over warring parties should engage in political dialogue and train forces on protecting civilians. And countries that export weapons should refuse to do business with any party that fails to comply with international humanitarian law.    Those who commit war crimes must be held to account. States must investigate alleged war crimes, prosecute perpetrators and enhance other States’ capacity to do so.    And we must do everything in our power to break the deadly cycle of armed conflict and hunger:    Addressing the underlying causes of hunger by strengthening vulnerable countries’ economies; honouring commitments to support countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis; and increasing contributions to humanitarian operations, which are — shamefully — just 15 per cent funded.    Civilians have suffered the deadly effects of armed conflict for too long. It is time we live up to our promise to protect them.    http://press.un.org/en/2023/sgsm21805.doc.htm    May 2023    Report of the Secretary-General: Protection of civilians in armed conflict 2022    With over 100 armed conflicts worldwide, civilians have continued to endure profound and lasting hardship. In 2022, as in previous years, armed conflict led to death, injury, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other suffering and loss. The destruction of critical infrastructure had far-reaching consequences, including disruptions to electricity, health care, water and sanitation services, and deprived many of the essentials to live. Health-care personnel and facilities were targeted, leaving thousands without care.    The use of explosive weapons in populated areas had devastating effects well beyond their intended targets. The rise in prices of food, fuel and fertilizers, combined with the effects of climate change, further intensified civilians’ needs. The number of people forcibly displaced reached new highs.    Humanitarian organizations faced a variety of obstacles in their efforts to alleviate suffering, including violence, bureaucratic impediments and shortages of vital supplies such as food and medicine.    Armed conflict continued to be a primary driver of hunger. Valuable farming equipment was stolen, agricultural land was littered with explosive ordnance, and livestock and crops were destroyed. Conflict also disrupted agriculture and trade, leading to a shortage of basic supplies and agricultural products.    This, coupled with additional factors such as the armed conflict in Ukraine, led to higher food prices and reduced access to necessary supplies for food preparation and distribution. Furthermore, the destruction of vital infrastructure, shortages of electricity and fuel, and extreme weather events all contributed to the scarcity of water.    Throughout 2022, armed conflict exacted a massive human toll, eroding resilience and straining what remained of essential infrastructure and services. Civilian death and injury, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and ill -treatment were reported across many armed conflicts...    http://reliefweb.int/report/world/protection-civilians-armed-conflict-report-secretary-general-s2023345-enarruzh http://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=S/2023/345    * Note: The civilian casualities cited in this report are only official state recognised calculations and are a most considerable under-estimation of the terrible toll inflicted on civilians in conflict. For example this: "In 2022, the United Nations recorded at least 16,988 civilian deaths across 12 armed conflicts.. although actual figures are likely higher". When consideration is given to the uncounted victims of conflict and the indirect impacts of conflict, particularly on the health of populations, the calculations should tragically cite many hundreds of thousands.    Researchers, writing in the Lancet Journal:    “Armed conflicts have indirect health implications beyond the direct harm from violence”. “Destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; population’s inability to flee to safe places; lack of funding support for those in need, are among the compounding factors impacting life outcomes. In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths”. Visit the related web page
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