Ratification Portal

The adoption of the Rome Statute of the ICC on 17 July 1998 offered a pioneering vision of accountability for crimes of international concern. It encouraged unprecedented international efforts to end to impunity for perpetrators of international crimes, creating a permanent international court with international criminal jurisdiction.

The Rome Statute gave the ICC the mandate to prosecute and investigate the war crime of starvation – a first for a criminal tribunal at the international level. Its powers to do so, however, applied only where the offending conduct occurred in the context of armed conflicts between sovereign states (international armed conflicts, or ‘IACs’). This is because the provision of the Statute that criminalised the deliberate starvation of civilians – Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) – expressly required that the offending conduct also took place in the context of an IAC.

Since the end of the second-world war, most armed conflicts—including those that have caused mass starvation events—have taken the form of civil war, insurgencies, wars of secession, and other bloody internal strife (so-called ‘non-international’ armed conflicts, or ‘NIACs’). This has meant that for many victims of the war crime of starvation, the Rome Statute has provided no protection or recourse to justice.

The Rome Statute’s discrepancy between IACs and NIACs is not easily explained. Deliberate starvation of civilians in NIACs was included in the list of proposed war crimes that served as the basis of negotiations for the text of the Rome Statute. Yet the travaux préperatoires are silent as to the reasons for its subsequent absence, causing some observers to speculate its omission was most likely an unintentional drafting error. The result was a critical gap in the Rome Statute’s accountability infrastructure that weakened international efforts to combat starvation in conflict and effectively denied access to justice to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of victims.

The use of starvation as a weapon of war in IACs and NIACs has long been prohibited under the laws of armed conflict, and has attained the status of customary international law. Thus, the absence of a provision criminalising deliberate starvation of civilians in NIACs has no legal, nor moral or logical, basis.

Whatever the cause of the Rome Statute’s accountability gap, the Starvation Amendment was a critical step towards closing it.

Proposed by the Swiss Federation, and adopted by consensus by the Assembly of States Parties (Resolution ICC-ASP/18/Res.5), the Starvation Amendment has offered protection from, and the prospect of accountability for, the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare regardless of the classification of a conflict.

Adding to the existing war crime of starvation in international armed conflict, the Starvation Amendment has criminalised intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including by willfully impeding relief supplies, as a war crime in non-international armed conflict.

The Starvation Amendment marks a critical achievement in the global movement to eradicate the use of food as a weapon of war. It adds to the international community’s growing toolkit in the fight against impunity by ensuring that those who would deprive the most vulnerable of resources essential for survival are held to account.

The Starvation Amendment was carefully drafted to avoid limiting legitimate or necessary military activity that may have an incidental impact on food supplies during warfare.

This ensures States’ legitimate interests are protected. For example, the Starvation Amendment does not prevent parties to a conflict from prescribing, in good faith, technical arrangements for the passage of humanitarian relief, or from searching humanitarian relief consignments.

To amount to the crime of starvation, a perpetrator must have deprived civilians of objects indispensable to their survival and intended to starve civilians as a method of warfare, conduct which is prohibited under the laws of armed conflict.

Learn more about the legal parameters of starvation in warfare in GRC’s Starvation Training Manual, now in its second edition.

Ratification of the Starvation Amendment is a potent symbol and crucial next step in the fight against impunity for the war crime of starvation. It demonstrates that States support the principle that civilians should not suffer the scourge of starvation when used intentionally for military gain.

Even more importantly, ratification is a concrete measure that states can employ to contribute to sustainable efforts to combat food insecurity in line with their own interests. It is an important step in ensuring the international community is able to dramatically correct its course and end hunger and food insecurity by 2030, per the commitment embodied in the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

There are many reasons to ratify:

• The Starvation Amendment underscores the international community’s longstanding commitment to the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
• Ratification encourages states to mirror legal protections in domestic law. This helps strengthen domestic capacity to identify, investigate, and prosecute starvation crimes.
• Widespread ratification demonstrates support for a strong, responsive Rome Statute system, enabling the ICC to prosecute the crime of starvation of civilians when and where it occurs. It contributes to the deterrent effect of international criminal law and supports effective complementarity between the ICC and States Parties.
• Ratification of the Starvation Amendment ensures consistency with States’ existing obligations under the laws of armed conflict, including customary international law, as it is an expression of the well-established principle that the deliberate starvation of civilians is prohibited in all armed conflicts.
• Ratification synchronises a State’s commitments with its values, as the aims of the Starvation Amendment are in harmony with the fundamental tenets of most states. Ratifying does not require the adoption of new or modified foreign policy: rather, it is reflective of the principles many states have regularly espoused on the international stage as consistent with their national values, international responsibilities, and policy interests.
• By ratifying the Starvation Amendment and other amendments adopted by the Assembly of States Parties, States help to strengthen the Rome Statute system; ensuring domestic laws remain in-step with developments on the international plane, and avoiding a fragmented Rome Statute system.

More information on states’ legal obligations to eradicate starvation and combat food-insecurity and the efforts they have taken to prohibit starvation of civilians under domestic law can be found in our Country Profiles Database.

By approving the Starvation Amendment by consensus at the 18th Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, the States Parties demonstrated the international will to ensure accountability for starvation crimes regardless of the legal characterisation of a conflict.

The adoption of the Starvation Amendment capitalised on increased international attention for starvation accountability following the adoption of resolution 2417 (2018) by the UN Security Council. The resolution placed combatting the problem of starvation as a method of warfare squarely on the agenda of the international community.

Recently, in briefing the Council at a meeting on conflict and hunger, Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri recalled that:

Resolution 2417 is a very powerful tool. It is powerful because it recognises that hunger is a cause and effect of armed conflict. It is powerful because it warns against using food as a weapon. And it is powerful because it appreciates the unique relationship between hunger and armed conflict, while also recognising the complexity of hunger in a holistic and systemic way.

The momentum is now with the international community to transform the adoption of the Starvation Amendment into a movement towards widespread ratification and implementation. Hence, action by individual States is urgently needed. Beginning the ratification process is an excellent means for States to reaffirm their commitment to the fight against impunity; ensure perpetrators of mass starvation crimes are held to account; and promote the strength of the Rome Statute system as an integral part of contemporary international justice.