Hunger caused by conflicts around the world has reached record high levels, a new report by Oxfam has found, which accuses warring parties of weaponising food and blocking aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between 7,000 to as many as 21,000 people are likely dying each day from hunger in countries affected by conflict, according to the report, published by the United Kingdom-based charity on World Food Day on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titled Food Wars, it examined 54 countries experiencing conflict, revealing that they account for nearly all of the 281.6 million people facing acute hunger today. Conflict has also been a major driver of forced displacement in these countries, which has now reached a record 117 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam emphasised that conflict not only fuels hunger, but that warring parties are actively using food as a weapon by targeting food, water and energy infrastructure, as well as blocking food aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internally displaced Palestinians receive food donated by a charity, in Khan Younis
Palestinians receive food donated by a charity, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip [File: Haitham Imdad\/EPA-EFE]
In September, three humanitarian agencies warned of \u201ca starvation crisis of historic proportions\u201d amid Sudan\u2019s civil war, while the proportion of households affected by high levels of acute food insecurity in Gaza has been the largest ever recorded globally since the end of last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws,\u201d said Oxfam\u2019s Emily Farr, who works in the area of food and economic security.
\u201cToday\u2019s food crises are largely manufactured. Nearly half a million people in Gaza \u2013 where 83 percent of needed food aid is currently not reaching them \u2013 and over three-quarters of a million in Sudan are starving as the devastating effects of wars on food are likely to persist for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The analysis revealed that the crises of war, displacement and hunger occur in countries heavily reliant on primary product exports. For instance, 95 percent of Sudan\u2019s export earnings come from gold and livestock. Mining operations have led to violent conflicts, forcing people from their homes as the degraded and polluted environments become unliveable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Oxfam, this underscores the failures of peace-building efforts that rely on an economic liberalisation model focused on attracting foreign investment and promoting export-driven economies, which often exacerbates inequality instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLarge-scale private investment \u2013 both foreign and domestic \u2013 has often exacerbated political and economic instability, as investors seize control over land and water, displacing local populations,\u201d Farr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conflict frequently intensifies other crises like climate shocks, economic instability and inequality. Climate-related disasters such as droughts and floods, combined with rising global food prices due to pandemic shutdowns and disruptions from the Russia-Ukraine war, have escalated hunger crises in East and Southern Africa, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam warned that the global commitment to \u201czero hunger\u201d by 2030 is becoming increasingly unattainable. It called on the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, to hold accountable those responsible for \u201cstarvation crimes\u201d under international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo break the vicious cycle of food insecurity and conflict, global leaders must confront the root causes of conflict: colonial legacies, injustices, human rights abuses and inequalities \u2013 rather than offering <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: Al Jazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hunger caused by conflicts around the world has reached record high levels, a new report by Oxfam has found, which accuses warring parties of weaponising food and blocking aid. Between 7,000 to as many as 21,000 people are likely dying each day from hunger in countries affected by conflict, according to the report, published by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/73"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shot24.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}