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Food Assistance in Conflict: Cure or Curse

Food Assistance in Conflict: Cure or Curse. Zlatan Mili š i ć Chief, Programme Guidance and Policy Service, World Food Programme. F ood insecurity and conflict. Food is vital to people’s survival and well-being.

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Food Assistance in Conflict: Cure or Curse

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  1. Food Assistance in Conflict:Cure or Curse Zlatan Milišić Chief, Programme Guidance and Policy Service, World Food Programme

  2. Food insecurity and conflict • Food is vital to people’s survival and well-being. • Conflict undermines the lives and livelihoods of people, generating an acute food and livelihood crisis. • Food insecurity can fuel and intensify conflict.

  3. Famine in Somalia.. 258,000 dead 8 million people assisted.. What if we hadn’t been there?

  4. Saving lives and reducing suffering through food assistance • Provides daily subsistence and comfort to people who have lost everything. • Reduces desperation and negative coping strategies. • Ensures immediate life-saving ‘medicine’ for severely malnourished children.

  5. Contributing to build peaceful countries and communities • Contributes to social cohesion and reduced community tension • Supports social re-integration and demobilisation efforts • Contributes to stability and reduce vulnerability. ‘Transforming the vicious cycle of food insecurity and conflict into a virtuous cycle of food security and stability’

  6. Food assistance as a right • The humanitarian imperative • People have a right to food assistance (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant of Economic and Social Rights, Fourth Geneva Convention) • Deliberate starvation is a ‘war crime’

  7. Re-framing the debate • Identifying the challenges and adapting to respond to them • Shifting from food aid to food assistance has allowed for better and more relevant programmes. • New tools to strengthen programming: transfer modalities, analytical and operational frameworks, mechanisms for engaging with people. • Mitigating risks and learning from experience: doing better, not less

  8. Curse or cure? • The cure/curse dichotomy is false. We need to get the balance right • Food assistance saves lives, reduces suffering, and increases well-being. • Food assistance can contribute to building peaceful societies and prevent violent conflict. • People have a right to receive assistance. • Humanitarians should adaptation and learn from experience to respond to needs.

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