During armed conflicts, more civilians now perish from starvation than from the actual hostilities, the United Nations Security Council reported a year ago.

While starvation may be an unintended consequence of military activities, it also may be intentionally used by conflicting parties as a method of warfare. As 1998 Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen stated, “There is no such thing as an apolitical food crisis.”

Yet the use of starvation in warfare has been prohibited under international law since the 19th-century Lieber Code. However, under certain circumstances, starvation has not always been illegal.

During World War II, in Germany’s 900-day siege of Leningrad, 1.1 million Russian civilians perished from starvation, yet a U.S. military court ruled this was not a criminal act. The 1949 Geneva Conventions specified, in fact, that starvation was “a weapon of war in principle.” Looking back, however, some 21st-century historians label the Leningrad siege as an act of genocide, with the goal to destroy the city and all its inhabitants.

More recently, the legality of starvation as a weapon of war has changed. The 1977 Geneva Convention, Additional Protocol I, states, “Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.” Additional Protocol II adds, “Starvation of civilians as a method of combat is prohibited.”

The 1998 Rome Statute, the legal foundation of the International Criminal Court, specifies that “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions,” constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts.

Starvation can occur through the destruction of food sources and sieges and blockades that prevent sufficient aid from entering a region. The inexorability of intentional starvation also leads some experts to classify it as torture.

In many situations today, the question arises of whether intentional starvation is used as a weapon of war. Ukraine, Gaza, and Ethiopia provide examples.

Ukraine

Human rights lawyers have accused Russia of intentionally starving the civilians of Mariupol as a method of warfare during its 85-day siege in 2022 (CNN, 6-13-2024).

Russian forces “systematically attacked objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population,” while cutting off evacuation routes and blocking aid delivery (Source: Starvation Mobile Justice Team of Global Rights Compliance).

Russia is accused of robbing Ukraine of grain and other commodities in occupied areas and of weaponizing food in the war. Agricultural fields have been devastated by bombs and landmines, and water and fuel have been cut off, making farming impossible. The UN World Food Program reports that 11 million people in Ukraine face hunger.

Gaza

Gaza is at high risk of famine and almost half a million people face starvation, warns IPC, the leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.

After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Israeli officials began a siege of Gaza, restricting aid in an effort to limit Hamas.

In response to international pressure, Israeli officials increased the amount of aid that can enter. However, this has not had the hoped-for outcome; theft, looting, and diversion of lifesaving supplies have been widespread, and the likelihood of famine is increasing.

Ethiopia

From 2020-2022, Ethiopian government troops, aided by militias from Eritrea, perpetrated mass atrocities in the northern Tigray region to suppress a Tigrayan bid for regional autonomy. Up to 600,000 civilians perished in mass killings and intentional starvation (Council on Foreign Relations, 12-19-2023). The Ethiopian government is accused of blocking food aid and of looting aid that did get through. Millions of people remain in desperate need of adequate food and nutrition.

In mid-2021, the UN wanted to declare a famine in Tigray, but Ethiopia’s government blocked the move (The Guardian, 2-9-2024). Instead, the UN said at least 400,000 people were “living in famine-like” conditions. The U.S. put the figure as high as 900,000.

Legal action

Yet to date, no court has entered a conviction for an international crime explicitly based on famine. Although starvation has appeared in about 20 cases before international courts, it is usually included in other crimes or as a part of ill-treatment during detention. Proving “intent,” the defining element of starvation as a war crime, is difficult.

In March 2022, in the case Ukraine v. Russia at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Hague, Netherlands, the Court ordered Russia to immediately suspend its operations in Ukraine — which Russia has ignored.

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case at the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide. On January 26, the Court ordered Israel to prevent acts that could be considered genocidal and to enable humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

On May 20, 2024, Karim Khan of the UK, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that the ICC will seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh. Mr. Khan cited accusations against the Hamas leaders of murder, extermination, hostage-taking and acts of sexual violence as war crimes, and accusations for Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity including the starvation of civilians as a weapon of war (Reuters, May 21, 2024)

This court, also in The Hague, is an independent criminal tribunal run by 124 member states.

Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), representing Tigrayan victims of the Ethiopian conflict, filed a complaint in 2022 against Ethiopia before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The complaint alleges that Ethiopia is violating the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and calls for unfettered access to food and humanitarian aid to the region.

Unlike starvation and famine due to droughts and floods, these situations in Ukraine, Gaza, and Ethiopia illustrate the tragic consequences to civilians when food becomes a weapon of war.

Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., is the executive director of World Without Genocide, which has special consultative status at the United Nations. World Without Genocide, based at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, will host a webinar about starvation as a war crime on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. via Zoom. Registration is required. The event is open to the public. $10 general public, $5 students and seniors, free to Mitchell Hamline students; clock hours for teachers, nurses, and social workers.

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