It took more than 70 years for the famine in Ukraine, called the Holodomor, to be accepted as a form of genocide by Ukraine and other countries. The Holodomor of 1932 and 1933 was the deliberate starvation of millions of Ukrainians through Joseph Stalin’s collectivisation policies.
Collectivisation involved confiscating all small scale and family-run agricultural farms. Stalin targeted Ukrainian farmers since he considered them class enemies and the backbone of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. In 1932 he set an unrealistic grain procurement plan for Ukraine. This, coupled with collectivisation measures and “dekulakization”, led to severe grain shortages.
Dekulakization referred to the policy of driving prosperous peasants off their lands, deporting many to labour camps and liquidating them as a class. Four-million Ukrainians died as a result of the famine. But for most of the Soviet era all discussion of it was prohibited.
In 2006, Ukrainian law recognised the Holodomor as genocide. The same law made Holodomor denial illegal. This was followed by several dozen other states recognising the Holodomor as genocide. A museum commemorating the Holodomor was opened in Kyiv in 2008.
But even after the truth of the Holodomor was discovered, Russia kept denying the genocide. The official position of the Russian Federation is still that the Holodomor was not a genocide.
Famine is often considered a natural catastrophe, but internationally there is growing appreciation of the idea of man-made famine. Many famines that were believed to be the result of drought or natural factors are now considered man-made.
Whereas little was known of the Ukrainian famine outside Ukraine, an instance of man-made famine is occurring under our noses on television and social media. In March, UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk stated that Israel’s restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza may constitute starvation as a method of warfare, which would be a war crime.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines the war crime of starvation as deliberately starving civilians by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies.
Under the 4th Geneva Convention, Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for “ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population”. But it has not only long failed to meet this obligation, it has also ceased to co-operate with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has taken over this responsibility.
It is clear that it is deliberate Israeli policy to starve the civilian population in Gaza. In the early days of the war defence minister Yoav Gallant advocated a “complete siege of Gaza”, including “no electricity, no food, no water”.
Israel is not only obstructing and withholding aid from Gazans, it is killing civilians who try to reach aid trucks. During the “flour massacre” of February 29, at least 118 Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces opened fire on people who tried to reach the food trucks on al-Rashid street. About 760 people were injured.
The healthcare system in Gaza has collapsed, and some of the children dying of famine and dehydration have died in places such as al-Shifa hospital. Nasser hospital and Al-Amal hospital, two other hospitals that have been systematically targeted, ran out of food in January.
In late March the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to desist from obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza as famine set in. In its decision to order additional provisional measures, the ICJ noted “the unprecedented levels of food insecurity experienced by Palestinians in the Gaza strip”. The court considered these developments “exceptionally grave”.
Seven of the ICJ judges wrote that Israel’s military operation and aid restrictions threatened the very existence of Palestinians. Somalian judge Abdulqawi Yusuf captured the sentiments of the majority of the bench: “The alarm has now been sounded by the court. All the indicators of genocidal activities are flashing red in Gaza.”
• Dr Swart is a visiting professor at Wits Law School specialising in human rights, international relations and international law. She writes in her personal capacity.
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