On World Food Day, hunger has reached an all-time high exposing the flaws in global peacebuilding and conflict recovery efforts
Between 7,000 to as many as 21,000 people are likely dying each day from hunger in countries impacted by conflict, according to a new Oxfam report published on World Food Day.
The report, Food Wars, examined 54 conflict-affected countries and found that they account for almost all of the 281.6 million people facing acute hunger today. Conflict has also been one of the main causes of forced displacement in these countries, which has globally reached a record level today of more than 117 million people.
It argues that conflict is not only a primary driver of hunger, but that warring parties are also actively weaponising food itself by deliberately targeting food, water and energy infrastructure and by blocking food aid.
"As conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws, causing an alarming rise in human deaths and suffering. That civilians continue to be subjected to such slow death in the 21st century, is a collective failure”, says Emily Farr, Oxfam’s Food and Economic Security Lead.
“Today’s food crises are largely manufactured. Nearly half a million people in Gaza – where 83% of food aid needed is currently not reaching them - and over three quarters of a million in Sudan, are currently starving as the deadly impact of wars on food will likely be felt for generations.”
The report also found that the majority of the countries studied (34 out of 54) are rich in natural resources, relying heavily on exporting raw products. For example, 95% of Sudan’s export earnings come from gold and livestock, 87% of South Sudan’s come from petroleum products, and nearly 70% of Burundi’s come from coffee.
In Central America, meanwhile, mining operations have led to violent conflicts, uprooting people from their homes as they no longer become able to live in degraded and polluted environments.
Oxfam argues that currently peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction efforts are too often based on encouraging more foreign investment and export-related economies. However, this focus on economic liberalisation can instead create more inequality, suffering and the potential for conflict to resume.
“It is no coincidence that the lethal combination of war, displacement and hunger has often occurred in countries rich in natural resources. The exploitation of these raw commodities often means more violence, inequality, instability, and renewed conflict. Too often, large-scale private investment—both foreign and domestic —has also added to political and economic instabilities in these countries, where investors seize control over land and water resources forcing people out of their homes,” said Farr.
Conflict often compounds other factors like climate shocks, economic instability and inequalities to devastate people’s livelihoods. For example, climate shocks like droughts and floods, coupled with the surge in global food prices associated with pandemic shut-downs and additional food-chain disruptions connected to the Russia-Ukraine war, have fueled the hunger crises in East and Southern Africa.
Many of those fleeing are women and children. Aisha Ibrahim, age 37, told Oxfam that she had to walk four days with her four children, leaving their home in Sudan for Joda, across the border in South Sudan. She left her husband behind to protect their home. “I used to live in a proper home. I could never imagine myself in this situation,” she said.
The international community’s pledge of “zero hunger” by 2030 remains out of touch. Oxfam says that states and institutions globally, including the UN Security Council, must hold to account those committing “starvation crimes” in accordance with international law.
“To break the vicious cycle of food insecurity and conflict, global leaders must tackle head-on the conditions that breed conflict: the colonial legacies, injustices, human rights violations, and inequalities – rather than offering quick band-aid solutions.”
“We cannot end conflict by simply injecting foreign investments in conflict-torn countries, without uprooting the deep inequalities, generational grievances, and human rights violations that fuel those conflicts. Peace efforts must be coupled with investment in social protection, and social cohesion building. Economic solutions must prioritise fair trade and sustainable food systems,” said Farr.
Notes to the Editor
- Read Oxfam’s report, “Food Wars”
- There has been an alarming rise in global conflict – not seen in decades - both in terms of number of wars and the death toll from conflict. Source: PRIO and UPSALA
- Oxfam analysed 54 active conflict, refugee-hosting, and conflict legacy countries with populations in 2023 facing “crisis-level” acute food insecurity, i.e., at Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 3 or higher. In total, nearly 278 million people in these countries faced crisis-level hunger in 2023, accounting for 99% of the global population at IPC 3+ (281.6 million people).
- Oxfam has calculated the hunger mortality figure based on the crude death rate in the Integrated Food Insecurity Technical Manual, and the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2024 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 3 or higher in conflict-affected countries. This was between 7,784 and 21,406 deaths per day or (5 -15 per minute). Source: GRFC 2024
- In all 54 countries, conflict was a major cause of food insecurity, although in some, weather extremes or economic shocks may have been the principal driver.
- 34 of 54 studied countries rely mainly on primary product exports, such as food, agriculture, and extractive industry products, or light assembly and low-end manufactures.
- Natural resources exports figures are based on Trading Economics. (2023). Sudan Exports; World Bank. (2022). World Bank Report: With peace and accountability, oil and agriculture can support early recovery in South Sudan. Press Release, June 15; and Trading Economics. (2024) on Burundi Exports.; and USDA (US Department of Agriculture) Foreign Agriculture Service. (2022) on Ukraine Agricultural Production and Trade.
- Food insecurity figures for Gaza are from IPC 2024, and for Sudan from IPC April report.
- Recent analysis from aid agencies found 83% of food aid is not making it into the Gaza Strip
- Globally, 117.3m people are forcibly displaced, of which 68.3m are internally displaced by conflict in 2023, that’s 90% of all IDPs (75.9m), Source: UNHCR 2024 and Migration Data Portal
For interviews with spokespeople, please contact Lucy Brown at lucyb@oxfam.org.au or 0478 190 099.
