Food Assistance in Conflict:Cure or CurseZlatan MilišićChief, Programme Guidance and Policy Service,World Food Programme

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.

Famine in Somalia..

258,000 dead8 million people assisted..

What if we hadn’t been there?

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.

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’

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’

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

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.