Resolution on the Prohibition of the starvation of Civilians as a Method of Warfare in Africa - ACHPR. Res. 666(LXXXVIII) 2026
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission), meeting at its 88th Ordinary Session held virtually, from 17 to 31 July 2026;Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human. . .
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission), meeting at its 88th Ordinary Session held virtually, from 17 to 31 July 2026;Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in Africa under Article 45 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter);Reaffirming the rights guaranteed under articles 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the African Charter;Considering articles 11 and 15 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol); articles 14 and 22 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and General Comment 22 of the Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, on the protection of women and children in situations of armed conflict and food security;Recalling Resolutions ACHPR/Res. 374(LX)2017, ACHPR/Res. 431(LXV)2019 and ACHPR/Res. 514(LXX)2022; on the right to food and food insecurity in Africa, and ACHPR/Res. 332(EXT. OS/XIX)2016 on Human Rights in Conflict Situations, which affirm the centrality of the right to food and nutrition, the need to protect vulnerable groups, and the duty to ensure humanitarian assistance in situations of crisis;Recalling further the AU Peace and Security Council Resolution/Communique [PSC/PR/COMM. 1083 (2022) on Food Security and Conflict in Africa which acknowledged the weaponization of food in conflicts and emphasized state responsibilities to prevent conflict-induced hunger; and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2417 (2018), which condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access;Reaffirming its Principles and Guidelines on the Implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the African Charter (2011), including the obligations to ensure freedom from hunger even during emergencies, to protect food sources against destruction, and to refrain from using access to food as a means of political coercion, punishment, or recruitment;Considering the ACHPR’s Report of the Virtual Joint Fact-Finding Mission on the Human Rights Situation in The Sudan (2025), which called upon both parties to the conflict to end the blockade and weaponization of humanitarian aid, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare;Reaffirming the obligation of all parties to armed conflicts to comply with international humanitarian law, including their obligations under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the obligations applicable to them under the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977, the applicable customary international humanitarian law, as well as international human rights law and international refugee law;Deeply alarmed by the widespread use and effects of conflict-induced starvation across Africa, as evidenced by the obstruction of humanitarian relief; attacks on and the destruction of farms, crops, livestock, fishing grounds, markets, water installations, health facilities and transport routes; and the displacement of farming and pastoral communities, which have left millions of civilians facing severe food insecurity and acute malnutrition, particularly in conflict-affected areas of Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo;Determining that the gravity and recurrence of conflict-related starvation in Africa require clear principles and rules concerning prohibition, prevention, humanitarian relief, accountability, remedies, and reparation;The African Commission:1. Declares that the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited in both international and non-international armed conflicts. This prohibition encompasses sieges and blockades intended to deprive civilians of food, water, crops, livestock, water installations, markets, or other objects indispensable to their survival, as well as the arbitrary denial or obstruction of humanitarian relief. 2. Underscores that all parties to an armed conflict (i. e. , State and non-State actors) have a non-derogable obligation not to use starvation as a method of war. 3. Calls upon all parties to an armed conflict to refrain from causing or contributing to conflict-induced starvation; to protect objects indispensable to civilian survival against attack, destruction, looting, or unlawful diversion; and to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief4. Calls upon State Parties to take legal and institutional measures to prevent starvation-related violations by all parties involved in the conflict; to investigate and prosecute those responsible; and, where relevant, to cooperate with competent regional and international accountability mechanisms. 5. Urges State Parties to provide effective remedies and adequate reparations, including monetary compensation, and the restoration of livelihoods, agricultural land, livestock, water systems, and markets. 6. Calls upon States Parties, National Human Rights Institutions, Civil Society Organisations, humanitarian actors, and other relevant stakeholders to widely disseminate this Resolution and promote awareness of its provisions, including among relevant public authorities, armed forces, non-State armed groups, and conflict-affected communities. 7. Calls upon its relevant special mechanisms, particularly the Working Group on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa; the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants in Africa; and the Focal Point on Human Rights in Conflict Situations, to work jointly in addressing conditions that may lead to the use of starvation as a method of warfare. Done virtually on 31 July 2026