A/HRC/43/44 assistance during the upcoming lean season.47 Also in 2018, the United Nations reported that 68 per cent of households in the Gaza Strip, or about 1.3 million people, were severely or moderately food insecure as a result of protracted crises and a prolonged blockade.48 Humanitarian assistance, and especially cash transfer programmes, has become increasingly critical, but is subject to political manipulation. 47. Despite these realities, international human rights law requires that in times of both peace and war, States bear the primary responsibility to protect civilians from hunger, shield productive resources essential to food systems and prohibit any attacks that target or interfere with the ability of people to access food. In 2018, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights concluded that Myanmar had disregarded this obligation and resorted to “forced starvation” to carry out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya people in Rakhine province.49 This widespread and systematic violence produced massive numbers of deaths and forced displacements, leading more than 800,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh. Two years later, the Rohingya minority continues to face food insecurity, poverty, malnutrition and severe health issues. New developments 48. Although perpetrators of deliberate starvation continue to enjoy widespread impunity, the international community recently took steps towards holding States accountable for violations of the right to food during times of war: in 2018 the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2417 (2018) condemning the starving of civilians as a method of warfare, as well as the unlawful denial of humanitarian access to civilian populations. In its resolution, the Council highlighted the link between conflict-induced food insecurity and the threat of famine, and called for parties to armed conflict to comply with international humanitarian law. It also promoted early warning, timely action and investment in resilience by safeguarding agriculture-based livelihoods during times of conflict-induced hunger. 49. The Security Council has not yet implemented that landmark resolution to condemn those using hunger as a weapon of war or unlawfully denying humanitarian access to civilians in need of assistance. Nevertheless, it has been invoked in submissions to the investigation by the International Criminal Court into the alleged crimes of the Government of Myanmar against the Rohingya people. Organizations such as Action Against Hunger and Global Rights Compliance have also consistently called for the Security Council to implement resolution 2417 (2018) to address ongoing food crises in conflict-affected areas.50 50. Prosecution of starvation remains nearly non-existent, as it is usually committed during internal conflicts. As a positive development, in January 2020 the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court unanimously voted to amend the Rome Statute to recognize the crime of starvation in non-international armed conflict. 51. The monitoring process of the Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises, to be undertaken in 2020 by the Committee on World Food Security, may generate additional guidance to States on how to address the structural causes of inequality and rights violations in the context of protracted crises. It needs to be understood that long-term agricultural and food system reforms are necessary to support a proactive rather than reactive approach to famine and food catastrophes (see A/72/188). 47 48 49 50 12 See FAO, UNICEF and WFP, “Increasing number of people face severe food shortages in South Sudan” (22 February 2019). See Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Food insecurity in the oPt: 1.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza strip are food insecure” (14 December 2018). See https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/03/1004232. See Global Rights Compliance, “Gambia argues use of forced starvation against the Rohingya in its ICJ submissions” (18 November 2019).