Senior UN experts recommend that UN peacekeepers should be deployed to protect attacks in places such as Gaza and Sudan.
Michael Fakhri is increasingly used as a weapon of war and now needs to arm UN forces to ensure food reaches a vulnerable population.
“I call on the UN General Assembly to authorize peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian convoys,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
Fakhri’s call for intervention deepens the focus on the goals of African and Middle East aid convoys.
The UN Human Rights Office said the number of attacks has been increasing, warning that any attempt to stop aid or target humanitarians is a war crime.
Recently, humanitarian convoys have been deliberately targeted in the Central African Republic and Haiti in the Caribbean.
Earlier this month, the United Nations 15-truck aid convoy was the first time a year-long attempt to reach the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher – was attacked and killed five people.
But the most notable aid blockage involves the Gaza Strip. Three months ago, Israel imposed a complete humanitarian blockade on Gaza, cutting off food and other key supplies on the Palestinian territory. The aid convoy entering Gaza also repeatedly attacked.
Fakri said that unless there is a coordinated international intervention to protect aid from the world, humanitarian organizations will eventually cease distribution, creating a “dystopia.”
He said the UN Security Council adopted a resolution in 2018 condemning the illegal denial of aid to civilians, but it has become invalid due to members’ continued veto attempts to provide assistance.
“Where the Security Council is blocked by the veto power, the General Assembly has the right to call on peacekeeping personnel,” Fakri said.
He said that the move could happen soon with the majority of votes required by 193 member states – a ratio predicted by Fakri is easily available.
“What the Congress will do is to implement politically what the state already has an obligation to do.”
The lack of frustration from international actions to protect important aid supplies, especially in Gaza, has forced activists to take things into their own hands.
Last week, a yacht tried to break Israel’s blockade and provide aid to Gaza, but was blocked by Israel.
On the same day, the ship was intercepted, a land aid convoy departing from Tunisia, with the aim of breaking the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
In Africa, the delivery of aid in Sudan has become increasingly troubled with the goal of aid facilities and humanitarian workers.
Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office, said: “Our intentional obstruction of aid for civilians from Gaza to Sudan and elsewhere, including attacks on aid convoys, has deeply disturbed us.
“It is worrying that these practices appear to be growing,” Lawrence said. “It is a war crime to deliberately block relief supplies as a way of war.”
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has been described as an excitement about the frequency and severity of attacks by humanitarian workers.
“Last year, a grim record was set for the number of humanitarian workers killed in conflict areas (more than 360), most of them in Gaza, but in Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere,” said Louis Charbonneau, director of the HRW United Nations.
“People who control aid have great power in specific areas and in conflicts,” Fakhri added.
He warned that if the attack continues, traditional aid distributors like the United Nations may be forced to give up.
Related: Gaza is “the hungry place on earth”
“This makes the United Nations, the international community, the Red Cross, civil society organizations, do the work, and then who will take over whom? These militarized actions?” he said.
Fakhri refers to the U.S. and Israel-backed logistics group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which aims to replace Gaza’s non-leading food and humanitarian supply distribution network.
Last Wednesday, Israeli troops killed at least 60 Palestinians in Gaza, who were seeking food from GHF distribution centers, and dozens of people were injured.
Charbonneau urged attacks on humanitarians and aid convoys. “A big motivation is impunity, which makes warring parties and others in Israel, Russia, Sudan, and others futile to civilians, including humanitarian workers,” he said. “The problem is that they have confidence that they can get rid of it.”
