Hunger, a war crime for which no one has never been tried. Why?

Intentional hunger has been increasingly used as a weapon – and not, It is not an inevitable part of war “But there has never been a conviction in international courts for this type of crime.”

Apos at judging hunger as a war crime in many of the current conflicts are becoming more frequent and gaining strength. “Hunger is a weapon that is being used around the world right now. But that has to end, goes against international law,” said Shayna Lewis, senior counselor for the Sudan of the US group Prevention and Elimination of Mass Atrocities (Paema).

Lewis referred to the situation in the Sudanese city of El Fasher, with 30,000 inhabitants, who has been besieged a year ago, a circumstance that generated food shortages.

“It’s an international crime and needs to be tried as such,” he said.

Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), have constantly made similar comments about Israeli blockade to the entry of help and food in the Gaza Strip.

“Israel is killing Gaza with hunger. It’s genocide. It’s a crime against humanity. It’s a war crime,” Michael Fakhri, a special rapporteur for the United Nations for the right to food, told the British newspaper The Guardian.

This Friday, an independent UN-supported food safety group for the first time that a severe hunger in the Gaza range is taking place.

“After 22 months of incessant conflict, more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip face catastrophic conditions characterized by hunger, misery and death,” the group said.

Hunger in Gaza was declared based on the evaluation of evidence collected and analyzed by the most renowned international food safety international system, supported by the United Nations and known as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The classification consists of five phases, being the Phase 5 which reveals a situation of severe hunger and in which the northern Gaza is located, where more than half a million people “face catastrophic conditions characterized by hunger, misery and death.”

Simultaneously, others 1.1 million people (54% of the entire population) are in Fase 4which indicates a food emergency.

Hunger as a weapon of war, a crime never tried

According to experts, the growing appeals to judge the hunger of civilians as a war crime result from increased hunger caused by conflict. During the first decade of this century there were few situations of this genre, according to a report by the World Peace Foundation (WPF), but this has recently changed.

“This is a ancient phenomenonused for centuries in conflict, ”says Rebecca Bakos Blumenthal, legal consultant for the accountability for Starvation project of the Newlandes Global Rights Compliance (GRC). tactic resurfaced after 2015.

In the last decade, hunger has been recorded in conflicts in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Food security experts evaluate that Ukrainian can also be seen as criminal attempts to turn food into arms. They also argue that there was an increase of this type of war crime.

“Even with the improvement of global food security, hunger incidents are increasing,” says Alex de Waal, a professor at Tufts University, and Mass Hunger Research Director at WPF. “This shows that global food security is more volatile and unequal. It is consistent with the use of hunger as a weapon.”

The deliberate retention of food and assets essential to civilian survival is considered a crime of war by many countries and also in various provisions of international law, such as the Geneva Convention, which established rules for international humanitarian law, and the Rome Statute, applied by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Despite this classification, To this day, no one who has used this tactic in a conflict has been brought to trial. The crime of hunger war has never been in isolation in an international court, only as part of the accusation in about 20 other cases of war crimes.

The fact that civilians are hungry in a conflict does not automatically mean that a crime has been committed. “One of the legal issues is the intention. The crime of hunger war requires the perpetrator to act with that intention“, Explica de Waal.

Hunger occurs in the long run, adds from Waal, and some jurists argue that It is necessary to prove that the perpetrator had from the beginning, for example, of a block or siege, the intention of killing civil. Most experts, however, defend the idea of ​​”indirect intention.” That is, it is evident that this situation will occur “in the normal course of events”, and the perpetrator knows this, having the opportunity to prevent civilians from starving but did not.

Another problem in cases involving hunger is the lack of precedents, as well as the definition of which national and international courts would have jurisdiction about the supposed crimes of war.

“What is missing? Political will”

Until a few years ago, hunger was seen as a matter of development or humanitarian, says GRC’s Blumenthal. But now more attention is being paid to criminal aspects.

“I work on this issue a few years ago and these things go slowly,” says Blumenthal, who has been dedicated to the theme since 2020. “I believe, however, that the situation is changing and that some relevant measures have been taken over the past ten years.”

In 2018, the UN Security Council approved a resolution that condemned the use of civil hunger as a method of war. In 2019, changes were made to the Rome Statute, making hunger a war crime also in local armed conflicts, not just international. There were UN inquiries about conflicts in South Sudan and the Tigray region of Ethiopia, specifically focusing on the issue of hunger as a war crime, adds Blumenthal.

“We are seeing more international and local organizations, along with liability mechanisms, denouncing this and certain remarkable examples, such as Gaza, expanded the awareness of this crime,” says the expert.

Blumenthal points out that those issued by the TPI against the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 are a “historical milestone” because they specifically mention hunger as a war crime. It was the first time warrants highlighted hunger as an isolated crime. He also adds that the court has opened an investigation into Sudan.

“The question has undoubtedly gained attention in the last ten years. All legal structures are in force. What is missing is a political will to act,” says Wal.

Hunger is not an inevitable part of war

From Waal underlines that there is still jurisdictional challenges, but it is confident that in many cases there is a condemnation. “Just take the accused to court.”

Blumenthal agrees. “There are misconceptions about this and many think hunger is an inevitable part of war. But during our in -depth investigations, it is surprising that it is clear that, in fact, these standards are very pronounced and in many situations it is possible to discern a deliberate strategy.”

Cautiously, Blumenthal is optimistic that those who have used the hunger of civilians deliberately as a weapon of war will soon face justice. “This is certainly hope. That’s what we’re working for.”