Human Right 2 Water, a new international NGO launched in Switzerland 26 May, will provide a critical knowledge hub for the integration of human rights to water and sanitation into governance systems.

Several people are reported to have been injured as Iranian state security forces and local police fired tear gas and rubber bullets 23 May at demonstrators in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, who were blocking a highway in protest at the lack of drinking water.

The head of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) has called on the international community to condemn Israel’s "arbitrary policy of manipulating water supply allotted to West Bank districts", Wafa, the news agency of the Palestinian National Authority, reported 21 May.

This OOSKAnews article was updated 29 May.

A series of nine interesting "Blue Peace Voices", short video presentations by global participants in the Blue Peace movement, were released in May.

Background:

Authorities of Libya’s Man-Made River Project (MMR) have announced the 15 May return of electricity supply to all of its wells and fields in the Hassouna System, and Sahil Al-Jafara, resulting in resumption of water supply to Tripoli and surrounding areas.

Electricity supply has been re-established after a week-long stoppage caused by armed attacks described as the worst in several weeks of fighting in and around the city.

Multiple United Nations agencies urged parties to the conflict to protect vital water supply facilities in the country last week. “We are acutely alarmed that water facilities have been deliberately targeted or indiscriminately attacked. This affects thousands of women and children and impedes efforts to implement basic virus prevention measures, such as hand-washing”, said representatives from OCHA, UNICEF, IOM, UNHCR, WFP, WHO, UNFPA in a 13 May joint statement.

While current interventions related to global migration caused by land degradation, water pollution, or changing climate, remain focused on response mechanisms, an understanding of drivers or so-called “push factors” of migration is limited, according to new research.

Article updated 29 May.

An attempted cyber attack on water command and control systems in Israel in April has been blamed on Iran. The Iran link was first reported by Fox News in the US, quoting unnamed United States government Department of Energy sources. US officials have declined to comment further.

Israel’s head of national cyber security Yigal Unna confirmed 28 May that the country had thwarted a major cyber attack in April against its water systems, calling it a “synchronized and organized attack” aimed at disrupting key national infrastructure.

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has reported (8 May statement by UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley) that excessive seasonal flooding, a crippled economy, impending desert locust swarms, and the spread of COVID-19 has threatened the safety and welfare of over 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in Somalia.

The Agency has requested a strong and coordinated response from UN Member States, the international community, national and local Somali authorities and humanitarian organisations and has appealed for $745 Million USD to meet global demands.

Access to water is critical for civilians in conflict zones. Yet all too often, water infrastructure is damaged or deliberately targeted. In an effort to strengthen the norms intended to protect water supplies in conflicts, the Geneva Water Hub (GWH) recently published the Geneva List of Principles on the Protection of Water Infrastructure. It contains a set of legal principles informed by international humanitarian, human rights and environmental law. In this article, Dr Mara Tignino and Tadesse Kebebew from GWH, a Centre of the University of Geneva, and joint project with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), argue that COVID-19 shows why these principles are more important than ever.

This “Water Diplomacy Voices” article is reproduced with permission of the authors, and the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) which first published it as a blog on 6 May: