Daijiworld Media Network - New York
New York, Aug 26: India has called on the international community to work collectively to safeguard critical sea lanes, stressing that secure and predictable maritime trade routes are essential for the uninterrupted movement of food, fertilisers, fuel and other vital commodities.
Addressing the UN Security Council's high-level open debate titled 'Food Under Fire: The Security Council's Role in Mitigating Global and Local Food Crises' on Tuesday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, said food insecurity remains one of the gravest humanitarian consequences of armed conflict.
"Today's conflicts increasingly generate ripple effects far beyond the immediate theatre of hostilities," he said, noting that disruptions to energy markets, fertiliser supplies, maritime transport, humanitarian logistics and agricultural trade can allow regional conflicts to threaten food security across the world.
Parvathaneni said developing countries that depend heavily on imports bear the greatest burden of such disruptions.
India said the "immediate priority" of the UN Security Council should be to mitigate the humanitarian consequences of conflicts by facilitating safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, supporting de-confliction arrangements where appropriate and ensuring that Council measures, including sanctions regimes, do not unintentionally obstruct humanitarian assistance or legitimate food and agricultural trade.
Underscoring the need to preserve the safety and freedom of navigation for commercial shipping in accordance with international law, Parvathaneni said secure and predictable maritime trade routes are indispensable for the uninterrupted movement of essential commodities.
"Disruptions to commercial shipping during conflicts can have cascading effects far beyond the immediate region, disproportionately affecting food-importing developing countries and humanitarian operations," he said.
India urged the international community to collectively safeguard critical sea lanes and maritime infrastructure while ensuring that legitimate commercial trade and humanitarian shipments can continue without undue impediment.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, addressing the debate, said 2025 witnessed not only the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II but also one of the highest levels of global acute hunger on record, with at least 266 million people facing acute food insecurity.
He said 2025 also marked the first time this century that two famines were confirmed simultaneously, in Sudan and Gaza, describing it as a "shameful milestone".
According to Guterres, the UN's latest Hunger Hotspots report shows that conflict and violence are the primary drivers in 12 of the 13 hunger hotspots of greatest concern.
Referring to the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran, Guterres said the Strait of Hormuz carries around one-fifth of global oil supplies and one-third of global fertiliser trade.
"Restrictions and closures have driven up commodity prices, and made availability plummet. And attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea are further threatening supply chains for food and other commodities," he said.
India stressed that food insecurity is fundamentally a consequence of conflict, political instability and underdevelopment rather than their root cause.
Parvathaneni called for timely assessments of disruptions to critical supply chains, including food, fertiliser, fuel and humanitarian logistics, drawing on the technical expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and other relevant agencies.
He said such assessments must remain objective, evidence-based and free from politicisation.
India also called for member states, international financial institutions, regional organisations and development partners to work together to strengthen domestic agricultural production, diversify supply chains, improve storage and logistics infrastructure and promote climate-resilient agriculture.
"Predictable and affordable access to fertilisers, quality seeds, technology and concessional finance remains indispensable, particularly for developing countries," Parvathaneni said.
He added that open, transparent and rules-based trade in food and agricultural inputs remains critical to global food security.
Parvathaneni cautioned against over-reliance on any single model of agricultural production, saying such dependence could prove counterproductive because production systems remain vulnerable to geopolitical disruptions, economic coercion and weaponisation.
He called for greater support to small and marginal farmers to enhance their productivity and contribute to food security in developing countries of the Global South.
"We must also encourage climate-resilient crops such as millets rather than limit conceptions of food security to the biggest staple grain crops such as rice, wheat and corn," he said.