Source: WikiCommons
NIOD Submission on Food Insecurity to UN Special Rapporteur
Published on 23 July 2024
NIOD researchers Lucy Gaynor and Anne van Mourik recently published an article on food insecurity in response to a call for submissions from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri.
The aim of this call was to collect information about starvation as a violation of international law and through the lens of human rights. The submission of the NIOD researchers is published on the website of the United Nations.
In their submission titled 'What are the root causes of food insecurity?', Gaynor and Van Mourik argue that recognizing hunger as violence helps identify its roots in systemic issues, intentional actions, or neglect. This perspective also underscores how human agency can exacerbate hunger through conflict, environmental harm, and inequitable policies.
This input will inform Fakhri's upcoming report to the UN General Assembly in Autumn 2024. His report will examine starvation as a crime under international law and highlight the right to food of the Palestinian people, particularly in the context of the ongoing famine in Gaza.
The full submission is available here.