Qatar Says Weaponizing Food, Starving Civilians Is War Crime, Crime Against Humanity, Genocide

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA

Geneva: The State of Qatar has affirmed that according to international human rights law, the right to food is considered a fundamental part of the human right to an adequate standard of living, and also an effective element of the right to life, adding that according to international criminal law, weaponizing food and starving the civilian population is a war crime, a crime against humanity, and genocide.

This came in the statement of the State of Qatar delivered by the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations in Geneva HE Dr. Hind Abdulrahman Al Muftah, at a side event on "Food Sovereignty for the Palestinian People" on the sidelines of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council.

The event was organized by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, under the auspices of the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office in Geneva, the Permanent Mission of Ireland in Geneva, and the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine in Geneva.

Her Excellency the Permanent Representative referred to the international conference organized by the Qatar National Human Rights Committee and a number of partners in Doha on February 6 and 7 on "Food Justice," which addressed several main issues, including the plight of the 2.2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza who face severe shortages of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.

The right to food includes three interconnected and basic characteristics: availability, accessibility, and adequacy, Her Excellency said stressing that fulfilling these characteristics requires states to respect and protect the right to food, and to implement it in times of peace and war alike.

HE Dr. Al Muftah added that under international humanitarian law, the principles that protect civilian populations during armed conflicts stipulate the protection of their right to food, citing Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which stipulates that it is the duty of the occupying power to ensure food and medical supplies for the population, and to bring in the necessary food supplies, medical stocks and other materials in the event that the resources of the occupied territory are insufficient. She voiced regret that the situation in Gaza is different.

Her Excellency said that after the occupying authority destroyed almost all basic infrastructure, killed more than 30,000 innocent civilians, and displaced 2 million people, it has now begun waging a food war in Gaza, and is systematically and deliberately destroying the food system in Gaza.

Her Excellency pointed that according to the most recent comprehensive study issued by the Global Nutrition Group last February, 90 percent of children under the age of two, and 95 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women, face acute food poverty, and one in every six children in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition.

95 percent of families also limit meals and portion sizes, and 64 percent eat only one meal a day, to the point where mothers in Gaza and Rafah are struggling to find clean water and infant formula for their newborns, and many people are eating animal feed to survive, she said.

In conclusion, Her Excellency stressed the need to take urgent action in four main areas: imposing an immediate; comprehensive and permanent ceasefire; stopping the forced displacement of civilians from Gaza; allowing multi-sectoral humanitarian aid to arrive quickly throughout the Gaza Strip without obstacles and in a sustainable manner; and providing sufficient support to UNRWA to enable it to effectively and efficiently carry out its duty.

She said that the time has come for the entire international community to live up to the responsibility entrusted to it, and entrusted to the Human Rights Council, to take action and end this human tragedy, pointing that it is a real moral test for all of humanity.

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