A/HRC/42/CRP.5 several occasions. In 2017 the Special Procedures mandate-holders of the Human Rights Council issued communications to the Government expressing concerns about the deterioration of food security in northern Rakhine.314 In 2019 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded that: The estimated 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Northern Rakhine State after the security ‘clearance operations’ of 2016 and 2017, are reportedly experiencing conditions of forced starvation, with security forces denying access to the remaining rice fields and markets.315 159. In 2018 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) conducted a food and agriculture assessment in Rakhine State at the request of the Myanmar Government. The assessment found that the the food security situation was “precarious” in the northern part of the State, notably in Maungdaw Township. There were fewer supplies than normal, accompanied by a spike in food prices and restrictive diets with increased risk of nutritional deterioration in pregnant, nursing women and young children.316 The assessment found that violence in northern Rakhine exacerbated food insecurity in what historically has been one of the “most vulnerable and chronically food-insecure areas in the country”.317 The assessment explains, “food assistance is an essential component of people’s diet”.318 The 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview prepared by Myanmar’s Humanitarian Country Team, consisting of the United Nations and its partners, estimated that 715,000 people in Rakhine State are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 128,000 IDPs, 470,000 non-displaced “stateless” people and 117,000 other vulnerable crisis-affected people.319 160. The Mission recognizes that seasonal patterns and natural conditions may at times adversely influence food security in Rakhine State. However, government-caused factors, in particular the movement restrictions exacerbated by the lack of humanitarian access, are the main causes of the current food insecurity. Numerous interviewees from northern Rakhine reported to the Mission that people are running out of food stocks and are unable to produce or purchase supplies, because of the movement restrictions. 320 As described below, some of these restrictions may be due to the conflict this year between the AA and the Tatmadaw. In an effort to “wipe out the insurgents”, an order dated 12 April 2019 by the Kyauktaw Township administration, for instance, provides that, in “townships in Rakhine State, any transfer of rice, food supplies, and medicines from one place to another, within the township, from one township to another, or via trade route or waterway, can only be carried out after having been inspected by the Township Police and with a letter of permission”.321 In the Mission’s view, the conflict between the Tatmadaw and the AA is not however the main driver of food deprivation and insecurity. Harassment by the Tatmadaw and ethnic Rakhine 161. The Mission found that the security forces and members of ethnic Rakhine communities routinely visit Rohingya villages to confiscate food, including crops and even 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 MMR 8/2017, available from https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=23297, and MMR 6/2016, available from https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=22927. CEDAW/C/MMR/EP/CO/1 The 2018 FAO/WFP agriculture and food security mission to Rakhine State, Myanmar, 12 July 2019, available from http://www.fao.org/3/ca5330en/ca5330en.pdf Ibid, p. 21. Ibid, p. 21. Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019, available from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2019%20Myanmar%20HNO_FINAL.PDF, p. 16. CI-229, FI-007, FI-024, FI-029, FI-031, FI-035, FI-046, LM-056. Township General Administration Department Kyauktaw Township, Local Order (1/2019), 12 April 2019, on file with the Mission. 53