Reaction to 2025 Global Report on Food Crises: Oxfam warns of “a world veering off course, starving by design”

Today’s "2025 Global Report on Food Crises” (GRFC), led by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), says that 295 million people around the world are now experiencing acute hunger – twice as many as in 2020 and marking the sixth consecutive annual increase. 

Reacting to the report, Oxfam Global Food and Economic Security Lead, Emily Farr, said:   

“This evidence presents an unflinching picture of a world veering off course. Hunger is no longer just a tragic byproduct of conflict—it is increasingly being wielded as its very weapon. In Gaza, Israel’s bombing campaign, forced displacement, and siege have engineered the conditions for famine, while in Sudan, food stockpiles spoil at the borders while communities starve. These are not failures of logistics or capacity. They are calculated assaults on civilians through starvation by design, in flagrant violation of international law. 

“Across the globe, we see the rise of three “lethal Cs”: Cuts, Conflict, and Climate. Together, they’ve fuelled the highest number ever recorded of people experiencing the most severe level of food insecurity. Yet major donor governments continue to gut aid budgets while ramping up military spending and handing tax breaks to billionaires. The world is spending more on bombs than on bread, more on walls than on welfare. The richest grow richer while the poorest are left to starve. 

“This is not a resource crisis—it’s a political and moral one. And it can be undone. Donor governments must restore life-saving aid, and all States must unequivocally hold those using starvation as a weapon to account. International Humanitarian Law is not optional. This is a test of global leadership and collective conscience.”