17.11.2025 Statement by Denmark for the Open Debate on Conflict-related food insecurity

Cheked against delivery

Thank you, Mr. President,

And let me also thank the Deputy Secretary- General and our for their powerful interventions this morning.

President Bio,

Thank you for your presence today and for your efforts in highlighting the deadly impact of conflict-induced hunger around the world. The briefings we have heard this morning are stark and irrefutable. 

Conflict continues to drive, exacerbate and prolong hunger around the world. We see starvation used as a method of war. This is a violation of international humanitarian law, and it undermines the very foundations of our collective responsibility to protect civilians trapped in armed conflict.

The international community is failing to realise the promise of Zero Hunger and the Security Council is failing to realise the promise of Resolution 2417. 

Mr. President,

Allow me to make three points.

First, the world today faces no less than two man-made and wholly preventable famines, as the representative from FAO has just described.

In Sudan, both the RSF and the SAF have instrumentalised food aid as a tool of war—blocking deliveries, denying access, and manipulating assistance. 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity – all for the sake of political and military gain.

In Gaza, severe restrictions on humanitarian aid have placed the entire population of Gaza at risk of a full-scale famine.

It is therefore imperative that the UN and other humanitarian organisations are fully enabled to deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid in accordance with the humanitarian principles and International Humanitarian Law.

Second, Mr. President,

The purposeful destruction of agricultural land and infrastructure essential for survival continues also to be deployed as a weapon.

From the mining of fertile fields in Ukraine to the contamination of water sources and the targeting of irrigation systems in South Sudan, these acts inflict enduring harm long after the fighting ends.

The loss of livestock, seed banks, and arable land deepens displacement and poverty and exacerbates climate vulnerability, reducing communities’ ability to adapt to environmental shocks.

Put simply, these deliberate acts are taking lives today and destroying futures for generations to come.

Third, Mr. President,

We know that hunger will not end with food aid alone. It demands political solutions that end violence, economic measures that sustain livelihoods, and environmental action that protects the natural systems people depend upon.

Within this Council, we must move from reacting to crises to preventing them - by linking early warning to early action. And while we are not, and should not become, a “humanitarian Council,” we bear a special responsibility to act when humanitarian access is wilfully denied.

In closing, Mr. President,

Around this table, we know that we have the tools to act.

Resolution 2417 was a testament to the Council’s resolve to end the scourge of conflict-induced hunger. But more than that, it was a collective call to action. A demand to uphold international humanitarian law and a demand for accountability for those who violate it.

We must now reaffirm our commitment to its full implementation.

Denmark stands ready to work with all Council members to break this deadly cycle. To ensure that starvation, denial of aid, and the destruction of food systems are not met with silence, but with action.

I thank you Mr. President

Cheked against delivery