5 days ago
How hunger and starvation are used as political weapons in Gaza
Analysis: Hunger has been used as a weapon of war for millennia, but is now recognised both morally and legally as a crime against humanity
"We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war". So says UN Secretary-General António Guterres reflecting on the catastrophic reality in Gaza today, where the population of two million are being deliberately and systematically destroyed by famine and malnutrition.
He is right of course, except that hunger has been a weapon of war for millennia. In 52 BC, Julius Caesar secured his most important victory against the Gauls, and hunger was his chosen weapon. The Roman army starved its enemy into submission. The fortified town of Alesia, in modern day eastern France, was subjected to Caesar's most audacious siege.
In his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Gallic Wars), Caesar boasts of killing 250,000 people, one of the earliest recorded genocides in history. Modern historians will tell you that that's a gross exaggeration, but they also agree that many thousands, mostly women and children, died of hunger and malnutrition in that siege. I wouldn't be surprised if Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a copy of Caesar's Gallic Wars on his desk.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Miscellany, Mary Byrne's Looking for Gauls in Gallia Narbonensis on the trail of the Gauls from Caesar's Gallic Wars to Asterix
The siege of Alesia was not the first time hunger was used as a weapon of war, and certainly not the last. There have been many sieges since then, and the 20th century was not an exception. Some of the most recent devastating sieges of the last 100 years include Stalingrad (1942-3), Beirut (1982) and Srebrenica (1992-5). Hunger is, and always has been, a weapon of war.
In fact, hunger has always been a political weapon, even outside of wars. In his book The Politics of Hunger, which focuses on politics in England between 1750 and 1840, Carl Griffin examines how hunger was deliberately used by the British Empire as a disciplining device. The Irish people were often at the receiving end of this crushing policy. The future is unpredictable, however history has a tendency to repeat itself. Where wars erupt, hunger, malnutrition and starvation tend to follow.
What is happening in Gaza today should not surprise anyone, least of all António Guterres. Nor should it surprise US president Donald Trump, who seemed flabbergasted when asked whether Israel was fuelling hunger in Gaza during his recent visit to Scotland: "I don't know... those children look very hungry... that's real starvation stuff".
From RTÉ News, aid agencies say humanitarian suffering in Gaza at 'unimaginable' levels
It's important to remind ourselves that at least one thing has changed since Julius Caesar's roamed with impunity across France, Germany and Britain, and more recently since the violent supremacy of the British Empire. The advent of the culture of human rights, and the international law framework for punishing or rebuking those who violate human rights, has been a game changer since the end of World War II.
Hunger as a weapon of war is now recognised both morally and legally as a crime against humanity. The concept of crime against humanity has legal recognition in international law, thanks to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The crimes that can be charged as crimes against humanity include enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, torture and sexual violence (rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization). It also includes the crime of extermination. While open to different interpretations, according to William Schabas, Professor Emeritus at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway, the deprivation of access to food and medicine can constitute an act of extermination.
From RTÉ News, Taoiseach says Israel's Gaza blockade 'clearly a war crime'
The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction in accordance with the Rome Statute with respect to four legally recognized crimes: the crime of genocide; crimes against humanity; war crimes and the crime of aggression. These are not just abstract concepts, or mere words. The recognition of these crimes is an acknowledgement of our common humanity. Impunity or indifference in the face of these unimaginable atrocities that shock the conscience of humanity risk breaking not just the common bonds that unite all peoples, but also shattering the very meaning of what is to be human.
Depriving access to food and medicine is considered by many human rights scholars a violation of a basic right, to be precise the right to subsistence. This right can be traced back to the work of 17th century German jurist and political philosopher Samuel von Pufendorf, but more recently it has been vindicated by some of the most influential scholars in human rights and political philosophy, including Henry Shue, who advocates the right to those material provisions needed for one's self-preservation.
As Shue writes in his 1996 book Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy, "no one can fully, if at all, enjoy any right that is supposedly protected by society if he or she lacks the essentials for a reasonably healthy and active life". These essentials, which make up the right to subsistence, include the right to water, food, shelter, and access to basic medical provisions.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, "I'm a genocide scholar. I know it when I see it". Holocaust historian and former Israeli soldier, Prof Omer Bartow, says the IDF campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide
Israel signed the Rome Statue on December 31st 2000, but withdrew on August 28th 2002, and they have since formally indicated that they no longer plan to ratify the treaty. Sudan, the United States and Russia also withdrew their signature from the Rome Statute. Nevertheless, if international law is to retain any legitimacy and standing, it is imperative that the international community keeps using these terms, and that politicians and concerned global citizens keep referring to these crimes in relation to current affairs, whether the accused state is a signatory or not to the Rome Statute.
The malnourished and starving children of Gaza are not the only victims of this conflict. The biggest casualty of the war in Gaza risks being politics itself. International politics and international human rights law are facing an existential crisis.
It takes a gargantuan effort of optimism to keep believing in the power of politics during times of war, but the alternative is too dire to even consider. António Guterres says that we must never accept hunger as a weapon of war because he knows that the UN is being starved of its legitimacy, and international law is being starved of its efficiency. As Israel defends its latest plan to take control of Gaza City, the future of human rights - not only for Palestinians but for all of us - is in the balance.
