APN | Rome

15 June 2026

APN advanced its advocacy in the first round of negotiations on the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) policy recommendations on Resilient Food Systems, held in Rome. APN took part in its capacity as Co-Coordinator of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples' Mechanism (CSIPM) Working Group on Building Resilient Food Systems, and as a member of the CSIPM Coordination Committee representing the West Asia region on behalf of the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty (ANFS).

Throughout the negotiations, APN worked to incorporate a number of key priorities into the draft recommendations while pushing for greater recognition of the structural drivers of food system vulnerability. Central to its efforts was the inclusion of explicit language calling for the prohibition of the use of food and water as weapons of war in situations of conflict and occupation.

In her intervention, APN Advocacy and Researcher Officer highlighted documented instances in which food has been used as a weapon of war, with particular emphasis on Palestine amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as other conflict-afflicted contexts including Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen, and beyond.

The proposed language received the support of several member states and has been retained in the current draft of the negotiated text. The second round of negotiations is scheduled to resume in July 2026, where discussions on the recommendations will continue.