The protection of access to food for civilians under international humanitarian law: acts constituting war crimes

o   Resumen y Palabras Clave: The objective of this work is to examine the specific provisions within the framework of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that protect the human right to food for the civilian population and to assess the extent to which the protection of access to food is addressed by IHL during the course of an armed conflict. Addressing these questions requires a detailed analysis of this branch of International Law to identify the specific IHL norms that aim, directly or indirectly, to ensure that the civilian population and certain vulnerable groups are not denied access to or availability of food during armed conflict, whether international or non-international in nature.

o   The Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) also criminalizes acts that violate IHL prohibitions related to food issues. Therefore, this study will also examine those provisions with the aim of clarifying the potential individual criminal liability of those who commit such acts.

o   In this context, we argue that the IHL provisions protecting the right to food strengthen the broader protections regarding food issues provided by International Law, particularly International Human Rights Law (IHRL). A pertinent example is the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on April 9, 1949, which stated: “elementary considerations of humanity […] are even more absolute in peacetime than in wartime.” Consequently, since access to food is intrinsically linked to human dignity and protected as a fundamental human right, it is clear that what is prohibited during war concerning food-related issues is, a fortiori, also prohibited in peacetime.

o   This underscores the relevance of studying and deepening our understanding of the IHL provisions protecting civilian access to food, as these provisions reinforce and complement the regulations and protections applicable to such matters in times of peace.

o   Human Right to Food, Food Security, Armed Conflict, International Humanitarian Law, Civilian Population, War Crimes, Justiciability

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