A Landmark Report on Starvation as a Method of Warfare
by Tom Dannenbaum
November 13, 2020
On the 5th of October, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, established in 2016 with a view to monitoring human rights and facilitating transitional justice in the country, issued a report entitled “There is nothing left for usâ€: starvation as a method of warfare in South Sudan. In it, the Commission investigates the devastating weaponization of starvation by both government and opposition parties to the conflict. The statistics are arresting: 7.5 million of the country’s nearly 11 million people require humanitarian assistance (summary, para. 1), with 5.29 million in “crisis†or worse (as compared to 1.5 million before the conflict) (para. 4). Over 290,000 children are in a state of severe acute malnutrition, with 1 million suffering from moderate acute malnutrition, and over 350,000 pregnant and lactating women in a state of acute malnutrition. (para. 4) Although environmental factors, such as flooding, have exacerbated the situation (e.g. paras. 6, 11), the conflict is at the crux of the disaster, with food insecurity in Western Bahr el Ghazal, Jonglei, and Central Equatoria States “almost entirely human-induced.†(para. 6).
https://www.justsecurity.org/73350/a-landmark-report-on-starvation-as-a-method-of-warfare/
