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UN Expert Calls for Routine Deployment of Peacekeepers to Protect Aid Convoys

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Deepening concerns over the targeting of aid convoys in Africa and the Middle East have led a senior United Nations expert to propose the routine deployment of peacekeepers to protect humanitarian supplies. Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has called for the UN General Assembly to authorize peacekeepers to accompany aid convoys, citing the increasing use of starvation as a weapon of war. Attacks on aid convoys have been reported in Central African Republic, Haiti, and Sudan, with the UN's human rights office warning that attempts to block aid or target humanitarians are war crimes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has called for the routine deployment of peacekeepers to protect aid convoys in areas such as Gaza and Sudan.
  • The UN's human rights office has condemned the intentional obstruction of aid trying to reach civilians, describing it as a war crime.
  • Attacks on aid convoys have been reported in Central African Republic, Haiti, and Sudan, with over 360 humanitarian workers killed in conflict zones last year, most of them in Gaza and Sudan.
  • Fakhri warned that if attacks continue, traditional aid distributors like the UN may be forced to give up, leaving a power vacuum that could be filled by militarized operations like the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
  • The GHF, backed by the US and Israel, aims to replace Gaza's UN-led food and humanitarian supply distribution network, which Fakhri sees as a threat to the independent distribution of aid.
  • Human Rights Watch has described the spike in attacks on humanitarian workers as "horrifying" and urged greater justice for attacks on humanitarians and aid convoys.

Statistics:

  • 360 humanitarian workers killed in conflict zones last year, most of them in Gaza and Sudan ("horrifying" number of attacks on humanitarian workers).
  • 93 attacks on aid convoys in 2022, a 20% increase from the previous year ("intentional obstruction of aid trying to reach civilians").
  • 60 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces last Wednesday in Gaza while seeking food from a GHF distribution centre.
  • 193 member states required for a majority vote in the UN General Assembly to authorize peacekeepers to accompany aid convoys.

Sources:

  • United Nations human rights office
  • Human Rights Watch
  • United Nations source
  • The Guardian

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