International Humanitarian Law (IHL) otherwise called the law of armed conflict is a branch of international law that regulates armed conflict. It seeks to regulate the conduct of armed conflict through a number of means like rules protecting persons who do not or no longer directly participate in hostilities, imposition of restrictions on parties to armed conflict with regards to the means and methods that are permissible to employ in conflict and limitation on the damaging effects of armed conflict especially on the most vulnerable such as civilians, prisoners of war and wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of the armed forces. In line with the above rules, IHL expressly prohibits the use of starvation of civilian population as a weapon of warfare. Additional Protocol 1 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions (AP 1) was signed in 1977. It relates to the protection of victims of international armed conflict, in other words, armed conflict between two or more states.
Article 54 of Additional Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions provides that: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited; it is prohibited to attack, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the adverse party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.
However, article 54 also specifies that the above provision does not apply where an adverse party uses such objects as: sustenance solely for the members of its armed forces, or in direct support of military actions, as long as ‘in no event shall actions against these objects be taken which may be expected to leave the civilian population with such inadequate food or water as to cause its starvation or force its movement.’
Additional Protocol 1 also signed in 1977, relates to the protection of victims of non- international armed conflict. Article 14 provides that starvation of civilians as a weapon of warfare is prohibited. It is forbidden to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilians’ population such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works for the purpose of starving civilians.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) also considers the intentional use of starvation of civilians and the wilful impediment of relief supplies as war crime. Parties must permit and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to civilians in need. The United Nations Security Council condemned the use of Starvation as a method of warfare and called parties to armed conflict to comply with IHL rules. Wilful obstruction of humanitarian relief is unlawful and may form part of a criminal charge for war crime.
For starvation of civilians to constitute war crime, the act (attacking, destroying, denying access to objects indispensable to survival like food store, crops, water, humanitarian supplies reliefs wilfully impeding relief), the result or effect (deprivation of food, water or other essentials to the civilians population causing severe suffering, malnutrition or famine) and the mental elements/intent ( intention to use starvation as a method of warfare or wilfully blind to the consequences of the acts) must be present.
In Sudan, the armed conflict that ensued between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 has disrupted harvest, market system, humanitarian access, large-scale siege, blockades and attacks on displacement camps and supply resulting to severe food insecurity and documented deaths from hunger and malnutrition.
Currently, more than 30 million people require urgent assistance while millions are saddled with starvation, disease and displacement. SAF and RSF use food as a weapon and are starving civilians. Humanitarian aids are being blocked and harvest season have been disrupted making widespread famine inevitable.
The siege in El- Fasher has left hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped, suffering from severe hunger and thirst due to lack of food and water. UN expert observed that the level of hunger and displacement witnessed in Sudan today is unprecedented and never witnessed before.
Between October 20 and November20, 2025, children died due to malnutrition in Sudan’s Kordotan region highlighting the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in that region. The Sudan Doctors Network reported the deaths in the besieged city of Kadugli and the town of Dilling, attributing them to acute malnutrition and critical shortage of food and medical supplies as a result blockade. The ongoing crisis has taken over 40,000 lives and displaced over 14 million people triggering famine and diseases.
The use of starvation of civilians and wilful obstruction of reliefs to civilians in Sudan contravenes the provisions of IHL and therefore constitute war crime. However, the following elements must be established; operational act.
This includes documented attacks on markets, warehouses, water systems, deliberate roadblocks, sieges, diversion or looting of food or relief convoys.
Pattern and intent: orders, communications, pattern of conducts showing a purpose to deprive civilians, targeting of ethnic groups or communities combined with blocking reliefs.
Human impact: malnutrition, famine indicators, deaths from hunger, hospitals and clinic reports.
The deliberate use of starvation against civilians is expressly prohibited and can amount to war crime if the conduct meets the required element above.
Following from the above, it is established that in Sudan there is the use of starvation as a weapon against civilians; the attack, removal and the rendering useless of objects indispensable to the survival of civilian population and the wilful obstruction of relief material as a means of warfare by the Sudan Army Force and the Rapid Support Force. This is a clear contravention of the provisions of International Humanitarian Law and has triggered the focus of international attention.
Independent investigation and accurate documentation mechanism should be collected to strengthen future criminal cases. Where jurisdiction exists (UNSC referrals, state party referrals, ad hoc arrangement) the international criminal court or other international tribunals can prosecute the crime of starvation and related crimes. It is important to note that Sudan is not a state party to the Rome Statute but since the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in Resolution 1593 (2005) on 31 March 2005, the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction over crimes listed in the Rome Statute committed on the territory of Darfur, Sudan from 1 July 2022 onwards.
Medeh wrote from the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Abuja.