Promo image for Policy Dialogues Conference: Hunger as a Weapon, which will be held May 24, 2023. (Photo courtesy of GNSI)
The United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the starving of civilians as a method of warfare in 2018—as well as the unlawful denial of humanitarian access to civilian populations—with members welcoming it as a landmark expression of unity on those critical issues.
This resolution, however, has not stopped state and non-state entities around the globe from continuing to use hunger as a weapon to suppress, coerce and control populations.
To further examine this issue, the University of South Florida (USF) will host the inaugural Policy Dialogues Conference, created by the Global and National Security Institute (GNSI), on May 24 on the Tampa campus.
“Hunger as a Weapon” is the first in a series of conferences that assesses non-traditional issues of global and national security. Less than a year into its existence, GNSI has already coalesced around the strategic focus of driving conversations around national security away from strictly traditional topics, like military, government and defense.
The conference will bring together the best ideas from a diverse array of specialists, each an expert in their discipline, with the end goal of being able to provide actionable solutions for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels.
Partnering with the USF College of Arts and Sciences and the Center for the Advancement of Food Security and Healthy Communities (CAFSHC), the event will feature two panels and four breakout sessions.
The first of the panels focuses on “Global Hunger: Generator of Social, Economic and Political Instability,” and the second will address “Food Insecurity in the United States: A Domestic Policy Challenge.”
Leading one of the breakout sessions will be Dr. Chase Sova, director of public policy and research at World Food Program USA. Sova will provide an in-depth assessment of the historical report “Dangerously Hungry,” on which he was the lead author, issued by the UN World Food Program. In a second breakout session, a senior member of the leadership team from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the world's premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results, will lead a fireside chat with conference attendees.
Executive Director of GNSI and former commander of the United States Central Command, General (Ret.) Frank McKenzie, who will be the conference’s opening speaker, shared why he believes now is the time to bring this issue to the forefront.
General (Ret) Frank McKenzie is the conference’s opening speaker. (Photo courtesy of GNSI)
Dr. David Himmelgreen will serve as one of the panelists during the conference. (Photo by Alessandra Casanova)
“Momentum is building across the globe to condemn the use of hunger as a weapon of
war and our goal is to increase that momentum,” said McKenzie. “Hunger has been used
as a weapon since the first war ever fought, and that includes the Civil War here
in the United States.”
“It’s only recently, however, that governments and global organizations have publicly and formally stood against it,” he continued. “In 1977, the Geneva Convention outlawed the practice. In 2018, the United Nations followed suit and right now, the United States Congress and Senate are considering resolutions to formally condemn the use of hunger as a weapon.”
Professor of anthropology and director of CAFSHC, Dr. David Himmelgreen, has been working closely with GNSI leadership to help invite influential speakers to the conference. He voiced his concern with the current state of food security in the U.S. and what he hopes will change in the coming years.
“Recently, The Economist reported that the U.S. ranked 13th in the Global Food Security Index for 2022 and that it lags behind other countries when it comes to policy commitments to food security, the health of its land, and the impact of land degradation on food production,” said Himmelgreen. “We’re confident that this conference will spur more discussion and policy changes that promote food security at home and abroad.”
“Ultimately, this is both a national and global security issue,” concluded Himmelgreen.
The Policy Dialogues Conference: Hunger as a Weapon will be held May 24, 2023 at the Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions on the USF Tampa campus. The event will also be live-streamed. If you are interested in attending, please register.