Legal Frameworks

The ban on the use of intentional starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is rooted in international law and replicated in domestic prohibitions. Thanks to the Starvation Amendment, the Rome Statute’s criminalisation of intentional starvation of civilians in both IACs and NIACs reflects the prohibition as it stands under international humanitarian law, including the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions and customary international law.

Therefore, ratification and implementation of the Starvation Amendment are not only a means of ensuring effective international criminal law frameworks for investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of starvation crimes; they help to further international efforts to eradicate hunger in realisation of the right to food.

Read more about the different legal regimes pertinent to starvation in conflict on the GRC’s Starvation Accountability Project – Resources tab.

Explore the Country Profiles Database (CPD) to find out more about State Parties’ obligations and domestic law relating to the prohibition on starvation and the right to food, or consult the CPD Glossary of key terms to read more about relevant treaty provisions.