War causes food insecurity
HRC ’23 [United Nations Human Rights Council, 3/9/23, ‘Conflict and Violence are the Primary Causes of Hunger and Famine, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Tells the Human Rights Council’, https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/03/conflict-and-violence-are-primary-causes-hunger-and-famine-special-rapporteur-right#:~:text=Conflict%20remained%20a%20key%20driver,the%20unaffordability%20of%20healthy%20diets, United Nations]
Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, said his report was on conflict and violence in food systems. Conflict and violence were the primary causes of hunger, malnutrition, and famine. Hunger and famine did not arise because there was not enough food to go around; they were caused by political failures, meaning that hunger and famine could only be addressed through political action. Without international cooperation on recovering from the pandemic and tackling the food crisis, every national plan would fail to address rising rates of hunger, malnutrition, and famine.
In the discussion on the right to food, some speakers said they were deeply concerned about the increasing impact of violence in food systems, crops and livelihoods. Conflict remained a key driver for food insecurity and malnutrition, and represented one of the main hindrances for the fulfillment of the right to food. Conflict negatively affected entire food systems and exacerbated the unaffordability of healthy diets. Around 345 million people were projected to be food-insecure in 2023 – more than twice the number than in 2020.