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).Provisional version subject
to editorial review.
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, 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 as well as 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 Euros,
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, 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 the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (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 in 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 bear the heaviest burden of 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 multi-year agricultural reconstruction plan
drawn up together with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),
as well as for the relevant humanitarian and food security programmes
of the WFP, to take active participation 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 calls too on member States to encourage the development, under
the auspices of the FAO, of an international multi-year 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 supply, particularly in import-dependent regions.
The Assembly calls for a swift opening 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, in particular 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, where such destruction jeopardises
civilians’ access to food. The Assembly further recalls that member
States must refrain from transferring arms, ammunition, military
equipment or 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 international level – given the way the
global agricultural commodities market functions – and at 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 people.
10. As experience in times of crisis repeatedly demonstrates,
resilience depends on sustainable productive capacity, the ability
of peoples and nations to feed themselves through their own agriculture,
supported by 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 of 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 any mechanism
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 damages 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 objects 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 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 urges 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 further
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 urges member
States to:
13.1 join and encourage
others States to join and actively support the Enlarged Partial
Agreement on the Register of Damage for Ukraine;
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 urges 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, strengthening local
and regional capacities for food and fertiliser production, and encouraging
regional food solidarity agreements, with particular emphasis on
regions facing a high risk of drought and declining agricultural
production due to climate change, as well as 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 the right of peoples 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 for
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 synchronized
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 them to:
15.1 promote a balanced food market
between local supply chains and exports, and support small and medium
hold 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 trade-liberalisation and market-access measures
adopted in response to crises are accompanied by effective safeguards
and by fair-competition standards, so that the domestic agricultural
producers and food-production base of receiving countries are not
destabilised, and so that 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,
reducing external inputs and strengthening 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 agro-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), “Guaranteeing the human
right to food”, 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 effective recognition
of 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 who are frequently excluded
from them.
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.
