Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law Handbook launch: Lord Collins' speech
Source: gov.uk (2025-05-05)

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lord Collins of Highbury gave a speech at the launch of the Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law Handbook.

Read: Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law: A Practitioner’s Legal Handbook (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/conflict-hunger-and-international-humanitarian-law-a-practitioners-legal-handbook).

Good morning. It’s great to see you all. Welcome to the Foreign Office.

For those of us lucky enough to have all the comforts we need in life it is hard to imagine how it feels to have no choice but to go without food or be forced to eat what hardly nourishes the soul and the body.

Sadly, the heart breaking reality is that millions of people today suffer from an extreme lack of food and are acutely malnourished due to conflicts. This cannot go on and the UK is determined to act.

Part of the answer is providing clarity on what the law is and how we can comply with it. That is why I’m privileged to be launching a new handbook to promote compliance with International Humanitarian Law and its critical role in addressing hunger in armed conflict.

Improving food security and nutrition are not just part of my job, I’m personally invested in this mission.

Before joining the government last July, I served as a shadow minister for a decade, where I was focused on driving up the global agenda on nutrition.

Earlier this year, the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization warned that conflict has increased acute food insecurity in 17 countries, affecting as many as 175 million people across the world. Many of these people have been suffering for years, trapped in never-ending conflicts.

Sadly Gaza is the example we think of most. Almost the whole of Gaza is facing emergency levels of food insecurity, including Gaza’s one million children. The World Food Programme’s stocks have run out.

That is why together with our partners, we are denouncing the two-month long block on humanitarian aid and calling on Israel to immediately restart a rapid and unimpeded flow of lifesaving help.

It is hard to believe now that merely 2 decades ago the international community had confined famines to history. Yet over the last decade we have seen a sizeable increase in the number and severity of conflicts.

Climate change and economic shocks have only compounded the problem. In eastern DRC, hunger and malnutrition are at record levels and growing. Trade routes and food production have been severely disrupted, and humanitarian access is limited.

Through our humanitarian programme, we have helped three and a half million people last year and are working flat out to reach as many people as we can.

And the United Kingdom has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of all Rwandan Defence Forces from Congolese territory. I am hoping that there is positive news from discussions last weekend but the situation is dire.

If we turn to Sudan, we see farms, food markets, and water treatment facilities being destroyed by the conflict and the siege of El Fasher is causing immense suffering.

Last month the Foreign Secretary co-hosted the Sudan Conference in London urging the warring parties to allow unrestricted humanitarian access, protect civilians and end the conflict.

The United Kingdom is providing a further £120 million to deliver life-saving food and nutrition supplies, including for vulnerable children at risk of wasting – a lifelong condition that will affect the ability for economic development and growth.

It is a failure of the international system that babies and young children in conflict settings frequently suffer and die due to acute malnutrition.

Last year at the G20, the Prime Minster launched the Joint UN Initiative for the Prevention of Wasting to help find the best ways to prevent malnutrition and save lives.

All of these initiatives show that despite cuts to the UK’s development budget, the UK remains fully committed to playing a key humanitarian role globally. And this handbook is a key part of our global mission to improve compliance with international humanitarian law.

The landmark United Nations Security Council resolution 2417, adopted in 2018, made hunger in conflict a political issue, and rightly so. Because famines are significantly less like to occur if all warring parties comply with international humanitarian law.

Now, while not all causes of hunger are violations of this law, many rules are of course crucial in avoiding hunger and malnutrition. Our handbook provides clear information on the law and how to follow it, with suggestions for good practices.

Indeed, the Handbook firmly backs the agenda set out in that Security Council Resolution. By helping parties comply with the law. By making policy discussions more informed. And by equipping partners with the necessary information to promote compliance with the law.

So I’m pleased to share that from today, the handbook is free and publicly available (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/conflict-hunger-and-international-humanitarian-law-a-practitioners-legal-handbook). We will soon be rolling it out throughout the government and our diplomatic missions. I hope that you and partners across the world will use it in your mission to tackle food insecurity in armed conflicts.

This week, as we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day and reflect on the peace and freedoms we cherish, the international community must redouble its commitment to end the scourge of conflict and hunger. Because change is only possible when all of us, all of us, work together as one team.