The 51st Session of the Human Rights Council
12 September – 7 October 2022
Agenda Item 3 - Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to Development
Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation
14 September 2022
By Isabella Sadur Sutherland / GICJ
Executive Summary
On the 14th of September 2022, the Human Rights Council held an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo. The Interactive Dialogue included a discussion of his report (A/HRC/51/24) on the status of the human right to water and sanitation with a focus on indigenous peoples worldwide.
The report highlighted specific issues of water and sanitation access for indigenous women and girls, the effects of land and water grabbing by state and private actors, and the violence faced by indigenous human rights defenders in preserving aquatic ecosystems. The Special Rapporteur’s report also stressed the value of indigenous water and water management approaches in combating the global water crisis.The Special Rapporteur presented recommendations to protect indigenous peoples’ right to water and sanitation, such as their free, prior, and informed consent for projects affecting their territories, the participation of indigenous peoples, particularly women, in decision-making processes, and the realisation of the existence of indigenous peoples and their territories in law.
During the meeting, the Special Rapporteur noted and looked forward to the UN Water Conference on 22-24 March 2023 in New York and the Social Forum on Water and Sustainable Development on 3-4 November 2022 in Geneva.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) calls for immediate action to realise the human rights of safe drinking water and sanitation for indigenous peoples worldwide. It is crucial that states and private actors cease land and water grabbing from indigenous peoples and act to repair the damage done by the contamination and drainage of water sources. GICJ urges states to respect the rights of indigenous peoples to consultation and the need for free, prior, and informed consent in order to protect the human rights to water and sanitation and to preserve aquatic ecosystems.
Background
In September 2020, Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation by the Human Rights Council and began his mandate in November 2020. He focussed his concern on rectifying the failings in global governance to supply safe drinking water and sanitation by the promotion of democratic governance of water and sanitation, as well as the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and the management of water as a means to achieve peace.
On the 27th of June 2022, the Special Rapporteur published his report on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. The report focussed on indigenous water and sanitation rights and access, as well as exploring the lessons and values of indigenous peoples in regard to water conservation and management. Indigenous peoples worldwide have confronted colonisation and violence for centuries, and now face the harsh effects of climate change and a global water crisis. Globally, indigenous peoples comprise only 5% of the population, yet 15% of the extreme poor and 1/3 of the rural poor. Often being relegated to marginal lands as a result of colonialist policies, the effects of inadequate water and sanitation access are sharply felt. In the face of these hostile conditions, indigenous peoples are using traditional water and land management systems, adapting them to combat climate change and the global water crisis. As stressed by the Special Rapporteur, they offer vital strategies to incorporate when approaching these issues.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation
Report A/HRC/51/24 on water and sanitation management and access for indigenous peoples. In his report, the Special Rapporteur recognised the hardships of indigenous peoples in securing adequate water and sanitation in the context of the global water crisis while also looking to their values and knowledge systems as a method with which to counteract this crisis.
The Special Rapporteur stressed the role of indigenous women as vital to preserving natural resources, citing their position in indigenous communities as keepers of traditional knowledge practices that look to protect water. The report also acknowledges the bonds between indigenous women’s identities and water itself, where both are revered as life-givers and are seen as closely tied together. The report recognised the essential role played by indigenous women in the defence of natural resources, seen in a growing global force of indigenous women leaders. The Special Rapporteur documented female Mazahua leaders’ work in Mexico, defending their right to water and sanitation and successfully reaching an agreement with the government.
While acknowledging indigenous women's leadership in these issues, the report emphasised the effects of poor water and sanitation as being felt disproportionately by indigenous women and girls. The Special Rapporteur noted indigenous women and girls to be bearing an uneven burden of labour in securing water and sanitation - an unevenness exacerbated by climate change as the contamination and scarcity of water sources means those providing water must travel further to secure it. This increases exposure to gender-based violence as well as taking time away from women and girls’ work, free time, and education. The report additionally stated that girls’ education was negatively impacted by social stigma surrounding menstruation. The Special Rapporteur drew attention to how girls are shamed for menstruating and confined to separate latrines from boys or banned altogether and forced to use bushes nearby in their stead, deeply impacting their right to water and sanitation.
The Special Rapporteur raised concern in his report over the lack of safeguards for indigenous defenders of land and water, emphasising alarming cases of indigenous water protectors working without legal recognition of indigenous existence in the eyes of the state. The report noted disturbing numbers of acts of violence against and murder of indigenous land and water defenders when engaged in the protection of these natural resources. The Special Rapporteur emphasised the increased danger these environmental human rights defenders find themselves in, citing atrocities in Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, and Indonesia.
The report found particular concern with the increasing commodification of water and megaprojects, placing water as an economic resource as opposed to a common good, a trend indigenous peoples have been vehemently challenging for decades. The report stressed concern with the privatisation of water as a motive for land-grabbing in areas with water rights attached to the land and the contamination of water sources by megaprojects, seriously encroaching on indigenous peoples’ human rights to water and sanitation.
The report concluded with serious concerns to indigenous peoples’ human right to water and sanitation. The Special Rapporteur emphasised the importance of the legal recognition of indigenous people’s existence within their respective states globally alongside the legal recognition of indigenous right to land, water and territory, in order to preserve indigenous peoples’ human right to water and sanitation.
The report brought forth several recommendations to address the breach in human rights of indigenous peoples to water and sanitation. The Special Rapporteur emphasised the importance of an increased presence of indigenous women in decision-making and urged companies and investors to attain free, prior, and informed consent of the indigenous peoples in whose territory they operate for their activities. The report also urged states to protect in law indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination in regard to territory and all water basins affecting their territory, as well as establishing guidelines for the protection of indigenous environmental human rights defenders.
Interactive Dialogue on the Special Rapporteur’s Report
Geneva, 14 September 2022. At the 6th meeting of the 51st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation held an interactive dialogue regarding access to safe drinking water and sanitation for indigenous peoples worldwide.
The European Union delegate highlighted the importance of free, prior, and informed consent for indigenous peoples and the necessity of the active participation of indigenous peoples in decision-making. The delegation acknowledged the dangers faced by human rights defenders across the world, particularly indigenous environmental human rights defenders.
The delegation called for preventative measures to protect indigenous human rights defenders and procedures to investigate violence and murder of indigenous human rights defenders. The delegation further emphasised the value of indigenous knowledge of traditional water practices to ensure the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and combat the global water crisis.
The delegation of Iceland (on behalf of Nordic and Baltic countries) highlighted the disproportionate impact to indigenous women and girls by poor water and sanitation quality, noting the difficulties arising from menstruation and childbirth without realising the right to water and sanitation. The delegation underscored the link between indigenous women and girls forced to travel further to access water and the risk of sexual and gender-based violence. The delegation concluded by emphasising the importance of rectifying the underrepresentation of indigenous women in the decision-making process of water management.
The delegation of Côte d'Ivoire (on behalf of the African group) raised concern over the violence faced by environmental human rights defenders in indigenous territories and called for effective systems for the realisation of protection and justice for indigenous human rights defenders. The delegation supported the Special Rapporteur’s emphasis on the value of indigenous peoples’ ancestral management systems of aquatic ecosystems when approaching the global water crisis. The delegation called for the status of indigenous peoples to be legally recognised by states.
The delegation of Peru (on behalf of twelve Latin American countries) highlighted the importance of indigenous peoples’ participation in the development of strategies to address the water crisis and climate change. The delegation further emphasised the need for more disaggregated data to be collected for a fuller understanding of the issues faced by indigenous peoples concerning water and sanitation.
The delegation of Palestine (on behalf of a group of Arab states) stressed the necessity of international corporations showing due diligence when operating in areas that affect indigenous water access, such as indigenous territories and water basins linked to indigenous territories. The delegation recognised the role of mega projects in the creation of water shortages and contamination of water sources, and subsequent displacement and conflict.
UN Women welcomed the attention of the Special Rapporteur on the role of indigenous women as water defenders and protectors of indigenous knowledge systems on aquatic ecosystem management. The delegation further stressed the vulnerable position indigenous women and girls find themselves in as they travel larger distances to collect water as a result of the global water crisis. The delegation called for greater inclusion of indigenous women in decision making and stressed the need for a gender responsive approach to tackle the issues raised by the Special Rapporteur.
UNICEF expressed concern over unsafe drinking water and sanitation disproportionately affecting indigenous children. UNICEF stressed the vulnerable position indigenous children find themselves in due to lack of access to water and sanitation, highlighting the susceptibility of children to disease from unsafe drinking water and sanitation. UNICEF supported the Special Rapporteur’s call for the participation and inclusion of indigenous peoples in the formulation of measures to combat the water crisis and the consultation of indigenous peoples in projects involving their territories and natural resources. UNICEF concluded their statement with an emphasis on the importance of the collection and analysis of data on inequality in access to drinking water and sanitation, as the identification of inequality is the first step necessary in addressing it.
NGOs and civil society organisations
Several NGOs and civil society organisations raised several issues regarding indigenous peoples' water and sanitation access. Many NGOs highlighted the unique relationship between indigenous peoples and water and stressed the importance of listening to and taking lessons from indigenous peoples in managing aquatic ecosystems. NGOs highlighted that lack of access to water and sanitation for indigenous peoples had been massively exacerbated by climate change and human made disasters. They stressed that this lack of access disproportionately affected vulnerable groups, such as children and the elderly, within indigenous communities. The danger faced by indigenous water defenders was remarked on by NGOs, raising concern over the violence and criminalisation of indigenous human rights defenders. They urged the international community and states to secure the legal protection of indigenous human rights defenders and the accountability of those who infringe upon their rights.
NGOs emphasised that while violence against indigenous peoples is rising, the punishment and accountability of those who harm indigenous peoples and their lands is declining. Indigenous councils have been continually reporting an increase in land and water grabbing alongside a startling lack of accountability for those who impinge on indigenous peoples’ right to water and sanitation. Several NGOs raised the issue that while many official bodies are aware of corporations, notably illegal mining operations and monocultural farming, contaminating and draining water sources, there is nothing being done to combat it. Several NGOs highlighted numerous cases of megaprojects and extractive activities in or affecting indigenous territories that caused great damage to indigenous water systems and sanitation, all of which occurred without the free, prior, and informed consent of the affected indigenous population. NGOs repeatedly called for an assurance of indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent.
There was support from NGOs and civil society organisations for the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation to promote an approach to water and sanitation in line with the indigenous view of water as a common good. The shift to a view of aquatic ecosystems as a collective resource highlights the issue of the increasing commodification of water and privatisation of water and sanitation systems to which several NGOs expressed alarm. Additionally, there was a call for states to provide non-commercial management systems, and delivery of water and sanitation.
Concluding Remarks
The Special Rapporteur concluded the interactive dialogue by reasserting the need for a greater level of protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples to adequate water and sanitation, especially for indigenous women and girls. The Special Rapporteur condemned commercial relationships between states and transnational or national companies that place the human rights of safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples at risk, impacting the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and the health of the affected populations. Mr. Arrojo-Agudo called for the promotion of national law to hold accountable transnational and national companies for invading and damaging indigenous territories and aquatic ecosystems. The Special Rapporteur reiterated the necessity of including indigenous peoples in the formulation and implementation of water and sanitation management strategies, stressing the essentiality of indigenous peoples’ specialised knowledge of the affected territories and land in the design of such strategies.
Mr. Arrojo-Agudo stated that the need for prioritisation of funding for indigenous authorities to manage and provide drinking water and sanitation to their communities means that there must also be a prioritisation of human rights in all budgets. Mr. Arrojo-Agudo reasserted the necessity of respect for the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination, consultation, and free, prior, and informed consent in whatever cases involve their territories and areas affecting their territories, such as connecting water basins. The Special Rapporteur looked with optimism to the Social Forum on Water and Sustainable Development on the 3rd and 4th of November 2022 in Geneva and the UN Water Conference in New York on 22-24 March 2023.
Position of Geneva International Centre for Justice
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) calls for immediate action to realise the human rights of safe drinking water and sanitation for indigenous peoples worldwide. It is crucial that states and private actors cease land and water grabbing from indigenous peoples and act to repair the damage done by the contamination and drainage of water sources. GICJ urges states to respect the rights of indigenous peoples to consultation and the need for free, prior, and informed consent in order to protect the human rights to water and sanitation and to preserve aquatic ecosystems.
GICJ supports the call of the Special Rapporteur for greater protection of indigenous human rights defenders in law, defenders who play an essential role in the preservation of vital aquatic ecosystems world over. The accountability of actors committing violent acts against indigenous water defenders must be realised. It is imperative that states do not criminalise indigenous human rights defenders and instead offer legal protection to them.
GICJ asserts the need for states to urgently provide safe, accessible, and complete water and sanitation to all indigenous peoples, and move forward with an intercultural approach to the management of water and sanitation to fully realise the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation for indigenous populations across the globe.
Indigenous People, Indigenous Lives Matter, Water, Sanitation, Human Rights, Justice, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre for Justice
