I. Definition and Criteria of Famine

The word “famine” is commonly understood to mean a severe lack of food, but there is no official definition of famine in international humanitarian law. This is why referring to a situation as a “famine” often triggers debate as to whether the situation in question really amounts to and qualifies as famine.

There are therefore several practical definitions for famine used by the various actors involved. For example, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) refers to famine as “a situation in which access to, and availability of food is severely reduced. Households are completely destitute and dependent on aid. Survival strategies such as distress migrations of entire populations are employed. This is an exceptional situation, where the prevalence of global acute malnutrition is substantially elevated not only in children, but in adolescents and adults as well, and accompanied by high mortality. Large-scale deployment of food distribution and feeding programs are essential.” Another food-consumption-based definition states that famine is a “sudden collapse in level of food consumption of large numbers of people” (Scrimshaw, 1987). Another mortality-based definition defines famine as an “unusually high mortality with unusually severe threat to food intake of some segments of a population” (M. Ravillion, 1997).

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates the number of people undernourished in each country based on the number of people who do not have enough food to lead an active and healthy life (based on the food energy one person needs daily; for example, an adult male needs 2,100 calories per day).

Armatya Sen, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics, explains that famine can occur even when food is available and that the definition should turn primarily on the issue of access to food and the capacity of the population (social, means) to get food.

Famine is very much a political matter—and so is the definition given to it. It is therefore no surprise that many definitions exist and that different stakeholders use different indicators and definitions to qualify famine (calorie intake, food supply, food consumption, mortality rate, etc.).

There is nevertheless a broad consensus that food security and famine should be understood as complex issues, full comprehension of which requires a multidimensional approach: understanding of medical, social, environmental, food security, and security issues, among others.

To that end, there have been efforts to standardize and organize assessments of food scarcity (Howe and Devreux, 2004). These efforts led to the creation, in February 2004, of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which was developed by a multiagency partnership of eight major United Nations (UN) agencies and international NGOs, including the World Food Programme (WFP), FAO, and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET).

The IPC approach is gaining importance, and this tool was officially used to certify the situation in Somalia in 2011 as a famine.

According to the IPC, evidence of three specific outcomes is required for a famine to be declared: (1) at least 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages with limited ability to cope; (2) the prevalence of global acute malnutrition must exceed 30 percent; and (3) crude death rates must exceed two deaths per 10,000 people per day.

In order to classify a situation, the IPC use multi-sectoral indicators that take into account the multidimensional aspects of food security: crude mortality rate, acute malnutrition, stunting, food access/availability, dietary diversity, water access/availability, coping mechanisms, livelihood assets, civil security, and hazards.

For a given geographical area (region, country, or more confined zone), the IPC then classifies the food security situation according to five levels, called “phases,” which represent different levels of severity: (1) Generally Food Secure, (2) Moderate/Borderline Food Insecure, (3) Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis, (4) Humanitarian Emergency, and (5) Famine/Humanitarian Catastrophe.

Critics of this approach point to the fact that the quality, methodology, and reliability of information collected is often questionable, particularly in complex and politically sensitive settings where famine occurs; information or data is often the result of political compromise, which in turn undermines the quality of such an approach.

The IPC defines famine as a “regional failure of food production or supply, sufficient to cause a marked increase in disease and mortality due to severe lack of nutrition and necessitating emergency intervention, usually at an international level.”

Famine early warning systems have been set up by major international stakeholders; they include, notably, FEWSNET, set up by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the integration of IPC on an ongoing basis within national countries and other UN agencies’ initiatives led by the FAO and WFP.

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II. The Causes of Famine

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Contrary to popular belief, famine is not properly classified as a natural disaster. Rather, famine is largely a political and social phenomenon. Often, the causes of famine cannot be summarized as a general problem of food availability. Many studies on situations of famine have demonstrated that famine is not the result of general food shortages, but rather of political and social problems that affect the distribution network and sharing of existing foodstuffs inside a country. The work of Amartya Sen has shown that the non-democratic nature of a political regime and the existence of a state of conflict are also factors that affect the evolution of famine.

Thus, famine is not inevitability tied to natural scourges or climatic conditions. Rather, famine is often caused by the weakness or failure of social or national solidarity frameworks. In the context of an armed conflict, famine may also be used as a method to weaken the enemy, part of a population and their leaders. In such contexts, humanitarian relief operations may be obstructed through a delivery system dependent on the cooperation of national authorities. Humanitarian actors must refer to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to uphold victims’ access to food aid. They must also analyze the causes of a famine closely.

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III. Humanitarian Law Provisions That Prohibit Famine

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In situations of armed conflict, international humanitarian law prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare (API Art. 54, APII Art. 14). This prohibition has been recognized as a rule of Customary International Humanitarian Law (CIHL, rule 53) that is applicable to both situation of international and non-international armed conflicts. CIHL is binding on all belligerents, including non-state actors, whether the actors have ratified humanitarian conventions or not.

CIHL also prohibits attacks on or destruction of food products, agricultural areas intended for the production of foodstuffs, crops, or livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works. These goods are considered protected objects because they are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population (API Arts. 54.2, 54.4; APII Art. 14; CIHL rule 54).

Under IHL, starvation remains an authorized method of warfare against combatants only. Special rules are applicable to besieged locations were civilians and combatants are mixed together. The parties to a conflict must ensure the “free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity cases” (GCIV Art. 23). The prohibition of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare precludes the deprivation of food by blockade, under the same rules that govern the protection of food from attack.

In addition, the Statute of the International Criminal Court establishes that starvation of civilians constitutes a war crime when committed in international armed conflicts (art. 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute). A siege that result in the starvation of a civilian population (in particular through the deliberate denial of humanitarian assistance) is explicitly considered a war crime under the jurisdiction of the ICC in the context of an international armed conflict.

In 2019, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statutes adopted an amendment to the definition of war crimes, including the act of starvation of civilians in the context of non-international armed conflict (NIAC). The new article (8)(2)(e)(xix) prohibits as a war crime in NIAC, the intentional use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including the willful impeding of relief supplies. However, this amendment is only applicable to the 16 States that have accepted it as of August 2024.

Despite the limited effect of this amendment in most NIAC, such practices may also be prosecuted as inhumane treatment or crimes against humanity if they meet the criteria of the ICC definition, regardless of the existence or qualification of the armed conflict.

Indeed, the intentional infliction of starvation may, under specific circumstances, amount to a crime against humanity such as persecution or “extermination” (Arts. 8.2.b.xxv and 7.2.b of ICC Statute).

In internal or international armed conflicts, humanitarian law authorizes relief actions that are of an exclusively humanitarian and impartial nature if civilians are suffering undue hardship owing to a scarcity of supplies essential for their survival, such as foodstuffs and medical supplies (GCIV Arts. 17, 23, and 59; API Art. 70; APII Art. 18.2; CIHL rule 55).

This right to humanitarian relief and supply has become an obligation in customary international humanitarian law, applicable in the same terms in both international and non-international armed conflict. CIHL Rule 55 of the ICRC’s provides that “parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, which is impartial in character and conducted without any adverse distinction, subject to their right of control.”

➔ Blockade </content/article/3/blockade/>__ ▸ Food </content/article/3/food/>__ ▸ Food and Agriculture Organization </content/article/3/food-and-agriculture-organization-of-the-united-nations-fao/>__ ▸ Protected objects and property </content/article/3/protected-objects-and-property/>__ ▸ Relief </content/article/3/relief/>__ ▸ Right of Access </content/article/3/right-of-access/>__ ▸ Siege </content/article/3/siege-1/>__ ▸ Supplies </content/article/3/supplies/>__ ▸ War crimes/Crimes against humanity </content/article/3/war-crimescrimes-against-humanity/>__ ▸ World Food Program </content/article/3/world-food-program-wfp/>__

@ Famine Early Warning System: http://www.fews.net

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification: http://www.ipcinfo.org

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