Public Talk: Mass Starvation as a Crime

Mass starvation in war is resurgent, devastating populations in Ethiopia, Gaza, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and elsewhere. Yet, what precisely is criminally wrongful about starvation methods remains underspecified. Drawing on the moral philosophy of torture, Tom Dannenbaum offers a new normative theory of the crime.

Starvation, like torture, is peculiarly wrongful in its distortion of victims’ biological imperatives against their capacities to formulate and act on higher-order desires, political commitments, and even love. Rather than palliating, the slowness of starvation methods is at the crux of this torturous wrong. Recognizing this redefines the meaning and place of the crime in the framework of international criminal law.

Tom Dannenbaum is an Associate Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy.

Register for the event here.