Somalia's famine is an 'act of mass murder'

In his latest Foreign Policy column, Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, argues that famine is a crime. Famines "don't happen any more in any country where leaders show the slightest interest in the wellbeing of their citizenry. ... In order to ensure widespread death by starvation, a governing authority must make a conscious decision: it must actively exercise the power to take food from producers who need it or deny food assistance to victims," he writes.

Kenny notes that Somalia's al-Shabab, which controls areas of the country where the famine is concentrated, "is widely recognized as a terror organization," which means that "it hardly seems likely that the international community has much to lose here." He concludes, "So now would be as good a time as any to set a precedent with a U.N. Security Council referral of al-Shabab's leadership to the ICC [International Criminal Court], on the grounds of crimes against humanity by method of mass starvation. That would make clear the international community fully understands that famine is not an act of God, but an act of mass murder" (7/25).


http://www.kaiserhealthnews.orgThis article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Living in food deserts during early childhood raises long-term obesity risk