A/HRC/45/CRP.3 on 5 April 2020, prices for staple foods and basic commodities have escalated drastically. In March 2020, one month before the first confirmed case of COVID-19, the price of a 50-kilogram bag of maize grain in markets, a staple food in South Sudan, had already reportedly increased by 36 per cent. After the spread of COVID-19, the price of a kilogram of maize in Juba shot up from 159 South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) in April 2019 to 298 SSP in April 2020.22 These price increases have been met with demonstrations, including in Bor town (Jonglei State) by civilians who blame traders for taking advantage of the pandemic. 15. Moreover, up to 95 per cent of the South Sudanese population depends on farming, fishing, or herding to meet their food and income needs. 23 The consequences of conflictinduced displacement and COVID-19 have had a particularly catastrophic effect on food security countrywide, in particular for agro-pastoralists whose activities are shaped by planting and growing seasons. Humanitarian actors moreover continue to face countless challenges to access communities in need, due in part to a lack of infrastructure and poor road conditions, limited connections between roads, limited food storage capacity, high transport costs including those for aid delivered by air,24 and persistent economic instability. 16. Recognising the need to address the crisis, signatories to the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan largely dedicated Chapter III to humanitarian aid and, on 1 October 2019, launched a plan for the return and reintegration of internally displaced persons and refugees titled “the National Framework on Return, Resettlement and Reintegration” (see paras. 136-138, below). Despite these commitments, the Commission notes that implementation remains a challenge on both the side of the Government and non-State armed groups who are largely ineffectual in addressing the shocking levels of hunger faced by the citizens of South Sudan. 17. Over the past two and a half years, the international community has taken a series of important steps to address situations of food insecurity during periods of armed conflict. In May 2018, the United Nations Security Council adopted a thematic resolution on conflict-induced food insecurity. Security Council Resolution 2417 underlined “that using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare may constitute a war crime”, strongly condemned “the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in a number of conflict situations and prohibited by international humanitarian law”, and strongly urged “States to conduct, in an independent manner, full, prompt, impartial and effective investigations within their jurisdiction into violations of international humanitarian law related to the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, including the unlawful denial of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in armed conflict, and, where appropriate, to take action against those responsible in accordance with domestic and international law, with a view to reinforcing preventive measures, ensuring accountability and addressing the grievances of victims”.25 18. Similarly, on 18 December 2019, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 74/149 on the right to food, noting in part that armed conflicts are among the factors causing or exacerbating famine and severe food insecurity, and stressing the 22 South Sudan’s food imports in the time of COVID-19, RIFT VALLEY INSTITUTE, Briefing Paper, April 2020, available at http://riftvalley.net/sites/default/files/publicationdocuments/South%20Sudan%27s%20food%20system%20in%20the%20time%20of%20COVID19%20by%20Edward%20Thomas%20-%20RVI%20X-Border%20Project%20%282020%29.pdf (internal citations omitted), at p. 1. 23 FAO in South Sudan: South Sudan at a Glance, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO), available at http://www.fao.org/south-sudan/fao-in-south-sudan/south-sudan-at-a-glance/en. 24 See, e.g., ERN 103643 – 103647, para. 13. 25 S/RES/2417 (2018). 8