Side event in the margins of the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council

Convened by the Brussels International Center (BIC)

Date: 19 June 2026 •  Format: 60-minute panel + Q&A

Venue: Palais des Nations, Room IX.

The speakers will be announced shortly!

Background and rationale

Since late February 2026, the armed conflict involving Iran has reshaped the maritime arteries that connect global production to the populations that depend on it. The Strait of Hormuz – through which roughly one-third of seaborne oil, much of the world’s liquefied natural gas, and around a third of the raw materials for global fertilizer transit – has seen monthly shipping volumes collapse from approximately 3,000 vessels to fewer than 200. Strikes connected to the conflict have also reached civilian infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf states that are not parties to the hostilities, including water desalination, energy and industrial facilities, airports and hotels, raising acute concerns under the international humanitarian law principles of distinction, proportionality, and the protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.

While the geopolitical and energy headlines have dominated, the sharpest costs of the crisis are being borne hundreds and even thousands of kilometres from the front line. Disruptions to ammonia, nitrogen and urea shipments – inputs on which roughly thirty per cent of global supply pass through the Strait – have already forced planting cutbacks in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand and parts of sub-Saharan Africa. UN agencies estimate that, if the disruption persists through this planting window, an additional 9.1 million people in Asia alone could fall into acute food insecurity. On the health side, more than USD 18 million in humanitarian medical supplies have been blocked and a further USD 8 million stranded; the WHO’s Dubai global health logistics hub – serving more than fifty humanitarian operations across twenty-five countries – has been suspended; and rising freight and input costs are translating directly into higher prices for the generic medicines that are the backbone of low- and middle-income health systems.

These second-order harms sit squarely within the human rights mandate of this Council. They engage the right to adequate food (ICESCR, Article 11) and the right to the highest attainable standard of health (ICESCR, Article 12), each carrying extraterritorial obligations under contemporary interpretation. They also test the reach of international humanitarian law beyond the territorial waters of the parties to a conflict – a question of increasing relevance as modern hostilities radiate harm through globally integrated supply chains. The side event will give Geneva-based missions, UN mandate-holders and humanitarian responders a focused opportunity to examine these connections and identify protection responses that can be advanced within the Council’s ongoing work.

Objectives

1.     Document and quantify the humanitarian impact of the Strait of Hormuz disruption on food security and health outcomes in lower-income countries, drawing on UN agency data and field reporting.

2.     Examine the human rights and IHL implications of attacks affecting civilian maritime infrastructure and infrastructure in non-belligerent neighbouring states, including the extraterritorial obligations they engage.

3.     Identify concrete protection and mitigation measures that the Council, Member States, and humanitarian actors can advance in the short and medium term, including through existing thematic mandates.

4.     Strengthen practical solidarity between Geneva-based human rights mechanisms and humanitarian responders operating in the affected regions.

‍

‍