117th CONGRESS 2d Session |
Condemning the use of hunger as a weapon of war and recognizing the effect of conflict on global food security and famine.
June 9, 2022
Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Young, Mr. Booker, Mr. Thune, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Risch, Mr. Coons, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Markey, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Brown, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Smith, Mr. Casey, and Mr. Bennet) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
July 11, 2022
Reported by Mr. Menendez, with an amendment and an amendment to the preamble
July 20, 2022
Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble
Condemning the use of hunger as a weapon of war and recognizing the effect of conflict on global food security and famine.
Whereas, in 2020, an estimated 155,000,000 people experienced crisis levels of food insecurity (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification phase 3 or above), with nearly 100,000,000 people living in environments where conflict was the main driver of hunger, and the COVID–19 pandemic has exacerbated rising levels of global food insecurity;
Whereas conflict acutely impacts vulnerable populations such as women and children, persons with disabilities, refugees, and internally displaced persons;
Whereas the impacts of conflict on food security can be direct, such as displacement from land, destruction of livestock grazing areas and fishing grounds, or destruction of food stocks and agricultural assets, or indirect, such as disruptions to food systems, leading to increased food prices or decreased household purchasing power, or decreased access to supplies that are necessary for food production and preparation, including agricultural inputs, water, and fuel;
Whereas conflict disrupts the distribution and buying and selling of food within a food system, including by creating shortages in production, increasing real and perceived risks for travel and transport, enabling the formation of illegal distribution channels and markets, and contributing to the breakdown of a government’s ability to enforce regulations or perform its judiciary functions;
Whereas aerial bombing campaigns targeting agricultural heartlands, and the use of scorched earth methods of warfare, landmines, and other explosive devices have direct impacts on the ability of vulnerable populations to feed themselves;
Whereas effective humanitarian response in conflict, including in response to the threat of conflict-induced famine and food insecurity, requires respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to such conflict, and allowing and facilitating the rapid and unimpeded movement of humanitarian relief to all those in need;
Whereas efforts to restrict humanitarian aid and the operational integrity and impartiality of humanitarian aid works and distribution efforts, including through the imposition of blockades, security impediments, or irregular bureaucratic requirements, are another means by which combatants employ starvation and food deprivation as a weapon of war; and
Whereas the United States Government has multiple tools to fight global hunger, protect lifesaving assistance, and promote the prevention of conflict, including through the Global Fragility Act of 2019 (title V of division J of Public Law 116–94), the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (Public Law 114–195), and the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–334), and has the potential to hold accountable those using hunger as a weapon of war through the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114–328): Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. Sense of the Senate.
The Senate—
(1) condemns the use of hunger as a weapon of war through the—
(A) starvation of civilians;
(B) intentional and reckless destruction, removal, looting, or rendering useless objects necessary for food production and distribution, such as farmland, markets, mills, food processing and storage facilities, foodstuffs, crops, livestock, agricultural assets, waterways, water systems, drinking water facilities and supplies, and irrigation networks;
(C) denial of humanitarian access and the deprivation of objects indispensable to people’s survival, such as food supplies and nutrition resources; and
(D) willful interruption of market systems for populations in need, including through the prevention of travel and manipulation of currency exchange; and
(2) calls on the United States Government to—
(A) prioritize diplomatic efforts to call out and address instances where hunger and intentional deprivation of food is being utilized as a weapon of war, including through efforts to ensure that security operations minimize civilian harm and do not undermine livelihoods of civilian populations;
(B) continue efforts to address severe global food insecurity through effective humanitarian response efforts, including through the provision of United States in-kind food assistance, vouchers, and other flexible food aid modalities;
(C) ensure existing interagency strategies, crisis response efforts, and ongoing programs consider, integrate, and adapt to conflict situations, including by utilizing crisis modifiers in United States Agency for International Development programming to respond to rapid shocks and stress such as the willful targeting of food systems; and
(D) ensure that the use of hunger as a weapon of war is considered within the employment of tools to hold individuals, governments, militias, or entities responsible, such as the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656), where appropriate, and taking into consideration the need for humanitarian exemptions and the protection of lifesaving assistance.
Nothing in this resolution shall be construed as authorizing the use of military force or the introduction of United States forces into hostilities.