19 October 2017: Several recent reports and events have raised awareness that conflicts and natural disasters are pushing the world off track towards reaching SDG 2 (End Hunger and all forms of malnutrition). Amid mounting evidence that hunger, malnutrition and obesity are on the rise, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has urged the international community to address famine as a crime against humanity.

Moving Away from SDG 2 Targets

During the month of October, the message coming out of high-level events and reports from UN entities has been that the world is heading in the wrong direction regarding the objective of SDG 2 to eliminate hunger and all forms of malnutrition. The report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), World Food Day and other reports have highlighted that, after a period of improvement, both hunger and obesity are on the rise around the world. The common message is that conflict and natural disasters are the main drivers of food insecurity, pushing many countries to the brink of famine. The most recent news from conflict regions reinforce this message.

Situation Continues to Worsen in Conflict-ridden Countries

In Mali, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that 165,000 children could become victims of severe acute malnutrition, as food security continues to decline resulting from violence, instability and displacement in the country. Based on data from the most recent Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) survey, the organization stated that the situation for children under five worsened in many parts of the country. Malnutrition in several cities is now evaluated as “critical,” rather than “serious” on the World Health Organization (WHO) scale. [UNICEF Press Release][UN News Release]

Food security is also deteriorating in the countries of the Lake Chad Basin, including Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad. In north-east Nigeria alone, 5.2 million people are food insecure and 450,000 children are expected to suffer from acute severe malnutrition over the next year. Countries in the region are affected by a complex mix of mutually reinforcing climate shocks, extreme poverty, and inadequate governance. During a visit to the region, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, said that people are “one step away from starvation,” calling for sustained humanitarian response and urgent action to contain increases in violence. In an interview for UN News, Lowcock also highlighted the crises in Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, calling the situation in Yemen the “world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.” [UN News Release][Interview with Mark Lowcock]

Even people whose needs are currently covered by food aid are not safe from a deterioration of food security. In Kenya, the World Food Programme (WFP) had to cut rations for 420,000 refugees by 30% due to a shortfall in funding. Refugees living in two camps in Dadaab and Kakuma are receiving food aid covering only 70% of their needs, as WFP is appealing to donors to cover a US$28.5 million gap in funds for immediate food assistance. [WFP Press Release][UN News Release]

In Yemen, where an estimated 17 million people are under acute threat of food insecurity due to ongoing conflict, help is on the way for 630,000 smallholder farmers through a joint project by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Bank. The US$36 million Smallholder Agricultural Production Restoration and Enhancement Project (SAPREP) will support priority actions for food security, such as the restoration of water resources to enable smallholders to increase production, income and nutrition. Focusing on the most food insecure districts and targeting landless farmers, the project is expected to have a strong humanitarian impact as it aims to increase the resilience of Yemen’s most vulnerable populations. [FAO Press Release][UN News Release]

Hunger Rises in Peaceful Regions

Previous reports and events have underlined the deteriorating impact of conflict on food security pushing several countries to the brink of famine; however, a report from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Region shows that hunger is also rising in regions mostly at peace. The report titled, ‘Panorama of Food and Nutritional Security in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017,’ published by FAO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), finds that the number of people suffering from hunger in the region has increased by 6% in 2016 to 42.5 million. While the overall rate of hunger in the LAC Region is lower than in other regions, the prevalence of undernutrition shows signs of a trend reversal, especially in South America. At the same time, overweight and obesity are increasing rapidly throughout the region, affecting close to 20% of the population and 7% of children under the age of five. Like other regions in the world, LAC countries are increasingly facing a “double burden” of malnutrition from the simultaneous rise of hunger and obesity. [FAO News Release][Panorama of food and nutritional security in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017]

Renewed Focus on the Right to Food

Amid the string of concerning news regarding hunger in the world, several UN leaders have called for a renewed focus on the right to food as a fundamental human right. The right to food was recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as part of the right to a decent standard of living. It was further detailed in 1999 by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 12 which established that “the right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has the physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.”

“The attention and commitment of the international community must, as a matter of the highest priority, be directed toward eliminating the root causes of famine, and not limited to ad hoc responses to the agonizing symptoms of the latest food emergency.” – Hilal Elver, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

Against this background, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Hilal Elver stated that famine should be considered a war crime or crime against humanity. In her annual report to the UN General Assembly, Elver shows that most victims of a conflict perish because of conflict-induced famine, noting that “casualties resulting directly from combat usually make up only a small proportion of deaths in conflict zones.” She stated that recognizing the right to food as a fundamental human right implies a duty to act for the international community. Furthermore, any action to intentionally block access to food, food aid, or destroy food production, should be considered a crime against humanity. She suggested that the most serious cases of such crimes be referred to the International Court of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution. She concluded that “the attention and commitment of the international community must, as a matter of the highest priority, be directed toward eliminating the root causes of famine, and not limited to ad hoc responses to the agonizing symptoms of the latest food emergency.” [UN Office of the Commissioner of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) Press Release][UN News Release][Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food]