Ensuring sustainable food security in times of crisis: strengthening resilience and access to food
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 24 June 2026 (24th sitting) (see Doc. 16423, report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and
Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Ms Larysa Bilozir). Text adopted by the Assembly on
24 June 2026 (24th sitting).
1. The right to food means that all
human beings, both in times of peace and in times of war, must have physical,
social and economic access to sufficient, adequate, safe and nutritious
food that enables them to lead a healthy and active life. This right
is under greater threat than ever, as overlapping crises – armed
conflicts, climate shocks and the cost-of-living crisis – continue
to undermine food security, food systems and nutrition worldwide.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly already sounded the alarm in
Resolution 2577 (2024) and
Recommendation 2286 (2024) “Guaranteeing
the human right to food”: it is necessary to examine the underlying
characteristics of food markets that make food systems vulnerable
to shocks and turn food into a strategic lever that is exploited
as a form of pressure or warfare, as armed conflicts destroy agricultural production
capacities and disrupt food supply chains and thus access to food.
3. The Assembly is alarmed by the consequences of the Russian
Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine for the food security
of the Ukrainian population and that of the rest of the world. The
number of Ukrainians facing moderate or severe food insecurity was
estimated at around 5 million in 2025. Prior to the Russian Federation’s
war of aggression, Ukraine was a major contributor to global food
security, supplying food to around 400 million people worldwide
and playing a critical role for food import-dependent countries
in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).The blockade of Ukrainian
ports in 2022 caused major disruption to global food supply chains
and contributed to a sharp rise in global food prices. The World
Bank estimates the war-related damages and losses suffered by Ukraine’s
agricultural sector at more than €90 billion, a significant share
of which is linked to the loss of access to land in occupied and
frontline areas, destruction of storage infrastructure, agricultural
machinery and production stocks, as well as mined and contaminated
land and damaged irrigation systems and other productive assets,
thereby compromising the world’s current food security and Ukraine’s
long-term productive capacity.
4. The Assembly underscores that the Russian Federation’s war
of aggression against Ukraine has severely destabilised global food
security. The destruction of Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure
and the blockade of Black Sea ports have disrupted grain exports
and exacerbated the vulnerabilities of the MENA region, which is
highly dependent on food imports. The Assembly notes that Russian
attacks against Ukrainian port and agricultural infrastructure continue
to disrupt exports and global food supply chains. The Assembly condemns
the looting and illegal commercialisation of Ukrainian grain by
the Russian Federation from temporarily occupied territories.
5. The Assembly notes with grave concern the ongoing humanitarian
catastrophe in Gaza. According to Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification (IPC) assessments, around 470 000 Palestinians were
facing IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) levels of food insecurity in 2025,
while the World Food Programme (WFP) estimated in April 2026 that
at least 1.6 million people, representing 77% of the population,
were facing high levels of acute food insecurity. At present, only
1.5% of arable land is accessible, fishing is banned and livestock
numbers have been decimated, seriously jeopardising local food production
and livelihoods, as well as the ability of Palestinians in Gaza
to feed themselves for decades to come. Food assistance continues
to enter Gaza at levels far below those envisaged under the ceasefire
arrangements of October 2025, thereby heightening the risk of famine
and further undermining food security. Special attention must be
paid to the extreme vulnerability of children, mothers and the elderly,
who are those most strongly affected by this food insecurity.
6. In view of these alarming findings, the Assembly calls on
member States of the Council of Europe to step up their support
for Ukraine’s 2026-2028 multiyear agricultural reconstruction plan
drawn up together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
as well as for the relevant humanitarian and food security programmes
of the WFP, to participate actively in the “Food from Ukraine” initiative,
and to support the documentation, sharing and dissemination of the
expertise developed by Ukraine in the areas of agricultural demining,
digital risk mapping and the rapid restoration of productive capacities.
It also calls on member States to encourage the development, under
the auspices of the FAO, of an international multiyear agricultural reconstruction
and rehabilitation plan for Gaza.
7. The Assembly emphasises the geostrategic importance of the
Strait of Hormuz for global food security. Instability in this area
drives up energy, transport and fertiliser costs, thereby increasing
agricultural prices. The FAO has warned that the closure of the
strait would trigger a systemic shock to global agrifood supply
chains, already reflected in the rise of the FAO Food Price Index.
This situation directly threatens the availability, affordability
and stability of food supplies, particularly in import-dependent
regions. The Assembly calls for a swift reopening of the Strait
of Hormuz for goods that are related to food production.
8. Drawing on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2417 (2018),
which was adopted unanimously, the Assembly strongly condemns the
use of starvation as a method of warfare, the unlawful denial of
access to humanitarian assistance and attacks on assets indispensable
to the survival of the civilian population, especially agricultural
and food infrastructure. These attacks include, in particular, the
destruction of agricultural land, irrigation systems, storage facilities,
ports and transport infrastructure essential to the production,
storage and distribution of food, thereby jeopardising civilians’
access to food. The Assembly further recalls that member States
must refrain from transferring arms, ammunition or military equipment,
or supplying other forms of military assistance, where there is
a clear risk that such support may be used to commit or facilitate
serious violations of international humanitarian law or international
human rights law, including practices contributing to starvation,
the obstruction of humanitarian relief or the destruction of civilian food
systems. The Assembly calls on member States to strengthen international
accountability mechanisms and to ensure that international law is
fully and consistently applied.
9. The impact of crises on food security does not stem solely
from global food availability. Crises amplify the structural vulnerabilities
of food systems, both at the international level – given the way
the global agricultural commodities market functions – and at the
national level – given the way domestic food markets are organised
and their level of resilience. The Assembly believes that it is
more urgent than ever for member States to recognise the imbalances
and dependencies created by the logic of the global food market,
as well as the vulnerabilities arising from the way global and national
markets are currently organised. The human right to adequate food
should be prioritised over economic interests in order to guarantee
stable, equitable and sustainable access to food for all.
10. As experience in times of crisis has repeatedly shown, resilience
depends on sustainable productive capacity and the ability of populations
and nations to feed themselves through their own agriculture, based
on diverse local and regional supply chains, productive farming
and food production and manufacturing capability and well-paid and
supported workforces, supported by strong workers’ rights. The Assembly
therefore considers that strengthening sustainable and local food
production capability is a key condition for stable and secure access
to food, in times of peace as in times of war.
11. With regard to the instrumentalisation of food as a method
of warfare, the Assembly calls on member States of the Council of
Europe to:
11.1 support all mechanisms
and courts responsible for documenting, investigating, prosecuting
and adjudicating international crimes, including the use of starvation
as a method of warfare and the weaponisation of critical civilian
infrastructure;
11.2 refrain from obstructing the work of the International
Criminal Court and, in the case of States Parties to the Rome Statute,
co-operate fully with it;
11.3 reaffirm the obligation of aggressor States to compensate
for all damage caused, including in the agricultural and food sectors;
11.4 ensure the full incorporation and effective implementation
within national legislation of the international humanitarian law
prohibition against the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, explicitly
criminalising any conduct that attacks, destroys, removes or renders
useless any goods that are indispensable to the survival of the
civilian population;
11.5 condemn attacks on agricultural and food infrastructure,
including farms, grain silos, irrigation systems, food storage facilities,
markets, ports and energy infrastructure, which are vital to food production
and distribution;
11.6 strengthen the protection of humanitarian access and food
supply corridors in situations of armed conflict, in accordance
with international humanitarian law.
12. With regard to preventing the use of food and agricultural
dependency and deprivation of humanitarian aid as tools of pressure
and conflict, the Assembly encourages member States to:
12.1 maintain restrictive measures,
including import and transit bans where appropriate, concerning agricultural
inputs and fertilisers originating from the Russian Federation and
Belarus, in order to reduce strategic dependencies that may be used
for geopolitical pressure and to prevent trade from contributing,
directly or indirectly, to the financing of the war of aggression
against Ukraine;
12.2 use all available means, in accordance with international
humanitarian law, to ensure the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery
of humanitarian assistance, including food, water, medical supplies
and fuel, to the civilian population in Gaza, and to ensure sustained,
independent and unimpeded access for United Nations agencies and
humanitarian organisations in order to avert famine and the worsening
of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
13. With regard to remedying violations of the right to food by
means of documentation and accountability, the Assembly welcomes
the recent expansion of the categories of claims relating to damage
to infrastructure, production capacities, assets and economic losses
suffered by legal entities and public authorities, enabling the
recording not only of individual losses, but also of broader economic
damage sustained by business entities and the State of Ukraine as
a result of the Russian Federation’s aggression. It encourages member
States to:
13.1 join and actively
support the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Register of Damage
Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine
(“Register of Damage”), and encourage other States to do the same;
13.2 support the development and the interpretation of the
criteria of the Register of Damage to ensure that damage affecting
agricultural production capacity, the livelihoods of the civilian
population and food supply chains is properly documented and can
be taken into account in future compensation and reconstruction
efforts;
13.3 support the documentation and assessment of damage affecting
agricultural production capacity, the livelihoods of the civilian
population and food supply chains, as carried out by the United
Nations in Gaza, with a view to establishing accountability and
facilitating future reconstruction efforts;
13.4 reaffirm and uphold the obligation of aggressor States
to provide compensation for all damage caused, including in the
agricultural and food sectors.
14. With regard to strengthening the resilience of food systems
globally, the Assembly encourages member States to:
14.1 reinforce public mechanisms
for regulating and co-ordinating agricultural markets, in particular through
the establishment of food reserves, emergency mechanisms to protect
against price spikes, transparency in market monitoring data and
the strengthening of international food security monitoring and
analysis systems;
14.2 reduce the concentration of food supply chains and agricultural
input markets by diversifying sources of supply, by strengthening
local and regional capacities for food and fertiliser production,
and by encouraging regional food solidarity agreements, with particular
emphasis on regions facing a high risk of drought and declining
agricultural production due to climate change, and on food sovereignty
for rural and Indigenous communities. This includes strengthening
local food systems in order to build shorter, more resilient and
conflict-resistant supply chains, and developing sustainable alternatives
to imported chemical fertilisers;
14.3 recognise that peoples’ right to define their own food
and agriculture systems is integral to long-term food security;
14.4 strengthen international co-operation to protect maritime
food supply routes and humanitarian shipping corridors essential
to global food security from geopolitical disruptions, including
through support for the Ukrainian Maritime Corridor, the “Food from
Ukraine” initiative and the European Union–Ukraine solidarity lanes;
enhance the protection of civilian vessels and critical port infrastructure, including
stationary and mobile port safety shelters, in order to safeguard
the safety of navigation and the stability of food supplies; and
strengthen tracking mechanisms to prevent the entry, transit or purchase
in international ports of stolen Ukrainian agricultural commodities
originating from temporarily occupied territories;
14.5 encourage the establishment and strengthening of permanent,
inclusive public-private co-ordination frameworks, drawing on the
model of the European Food Security Crisis Preparedness and Response
Mechanism, to ensure risk mitigation mechanisms and continuous risk
monitoring, early detection of supply chain bottlenecks and synchronised
responses between governments, international bodies and private
food chain actors.
15. Lastly, in order to strengthen the resilience of the food
systems in each member State, the Assembly encourages member States
to:
15.1 promote a balanced food
market between local supply chains and exports, and support smallholder
farmers, family farmers and other local food producers by providing
them with diversified access to markets and stimulating demand for
their products through targeted support and the introduction of
criteria relating to local sourcing and community ties in public
procurement, in particular as regards school catering, hospitals
and care homes;
15.2 ensure that measures for trade liberalisation and market
access that are adopted in response to crises are accompanied by
effective safeguards and by fair-competition standards, so that
the agricultural producers and food-production systems of receiving
countries are not destabilised, and imported products are not produced
to lower environmental, animal welfare or labour standards than those
required of domestic producers;
15.3 prioritise agro-ecological systems based on crop diversification,
the reduction of external inputs and the strengthening of short
supply chains and, in the context of Ukraine’s accession to the
European Union, provide financial, technical and logistical support
for the sustainable and inclusive transition of the Ukrainian agricultural
model, taking account of the diversity of production systems, rural
livelihoods and long-term food security;
15.4 support the strengthening of local agricultural production
capacity in regions facing food insecurity through training, industry
exchanges, the sharing of agro-ecological knowledge and partnerships,
including Ukrainian initiatives aimed at training specialists for
African agricultural hubs, as well as youth-led, autonomous and
digital-driven agricultural initiatives, including artificial intelligence and
smart-farming technologies, with a view to promoting long-term food
resilience, local self-sufficiency and sustainable food systems;
15.5 implement
Resolution 2577
(2024), which calls on member States explicitly to enshrine
the right to food in their constitutions and to pass framework legislation
on the right to food;
15.6 protect the rights of agricultural and food-system workers,
in particular freedom of association and the right to organise and
to bargain collectively as provided for in Articles 5 and 6 of the
European Social Charter (ETS No. 35), respectively, and to extend
labour and social protections to seasonal, temporary and migrant
workers, to whom they are frequently not granted.
16. As well as measures to strengthen national resilience, the
Assembly calls on member States to work collectively to promote
sustainable and rights-based food systems, strengthen food security
and resilience, and provide a model for democratic and rights-based
food governance beyond the European region.
