Arria-formula Meeting on “Protecting Water in Armed Conflict”
On Friday afternoon (23 May), an Arria-formula meeting will be convened by Slovenia together with Algeria, Panama, and Sierra Leone that is titled “Freshwater Resources and Related Infrastructure under Attack: Protecting Water in Armed Conflict—Protecting Civilian Lives”. Several non-Council members—Costa Rica, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Mozambique, the Philippines, Senegal, Switzerland, and Viet Nam—are supporting the meeting.
Melita Gabrič, Slovenia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, will chair the meeting. The expected briefers are International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations Ted Chaiban, and a civil society representative.
The meeting will take place from 3 pm to 6 pm EST in Conference Room 1 at UN Headquarters. It will be broadcast live on UNTV and is open to representatives of all UN member states, permanent observers, and agencies.
Slovenia has prepared a concept note for Friday’s meeting, which states that one of the “most devastating consequences of armed conflicts is the impact on water and sanitation services”. It observes that water can be both “a weapon and a casualty of war”, when “wells are poisoned, pipelines bombed, water pumping stations disabled, freshwater resources contaminated and access to clean drinking water cut off”.
Friday’s meeting builds on the 22 March 2023 ministerial-level Arria-formula meeting convened by Mozambique and Switzerland titled “Protection of Civilians: Achieving a better protection of water-related essential services and infrastructure for the civilian population during armed conflicts”. That meeting featured briefings by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, then-Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Robert Mardini, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, and Executive Director of Oxfam South Africa Lebogang Ramafoko.
In recent years, the Security Council has adopted several outcomes relating to the protection of civilian infrastructure, including resolution 2365 of 30 June 2017, resolution 2417 of 24 May 2018, resolution 2573 of 27 April 2021, resolution 2664 of 9 December 2022, and resolution 2730 of 24 May 2024. Two of these outcomes explicitly refer to the protection of water. Resolution 2417 references drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works as civilian objects “indispensable to the survival of the civilian population” and calls on conflict parties to refrain from “attacking, destroying, removing or rendering” them useless. Resolution 2573 expresses the Council’s deep concern about armed conflicts’ devastating effects on civilian objects, including by reducing access to essential services such as health care, water, sanitation, and energy.
The need to protect water infrastructure and access to water in armed conflicts is frequently raised in the Council’s annual open debates on the protection of civilians. This issue is likely to be discussed again in this year’s open debate, which will take place tomorrow (22 May). The open debate will be informed by the Secretary-General’s most recent annual report on the protection of civilians (S/2025/271), which was circulated to Council members on 15 May. The report refers to food insecurity and water scarcity in several situations on the Council’s agenda and describes the destruction of water infrastructure in contexts such as Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria.
The concept note circulated by Slovenia outlines key questions that Friday’s meeting seeks to address. Among these are:
- How do we reverse the trend of normalisation of attacks on or affecting freshwater and related infrastructure and foster a culture of compliance with international humanitarian law and UN Security Council resolutions?
- How can the UN system and humanitarian actors more effectively address the immediate and long-term and cumulative attacks on or affecting freshwater resources and related infrastructure?
- How can the UN Security Council transform existing evidence into meaningful action and what steps should be taken to ensure water protection remains a priority in conflict settings?
The briefers and member states are likely to highlight the importance of protecting access to water and water infrastructure (for example, dams, reservoirs, wells, and wastewater treatment and desalination plants) in several conflict situations on the Council’s agenda.
Spoljaric may note that the protection of civilian infrastructure, including water resources, in armed conflict is firmly rooted in international humanitarian and human rights law. Article 57 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions affirms: “[i]n the conduct of military operations, constant care shall be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects”. Spoljaric is likely to underscore the need to strengthen compliance with international law. In this regard, she may note that parties to armed conflict must respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution to minimise the risk to civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Tedros may emphasise the adverse effects of attacks on water infrastructure and resources on public health in conflict situations. He may underscore the humanitarian consequences of water scarcity, including malnutrition, and the heightened risk of diseases from drinking contaminated water.
Chaiban may note that children are disproportionately affected when water sanitation services are not available. He might describe UNICEF’s efforts to truck in water and repair water infrastructure in conflict-affected communities. In addition, Chaiban may note how climate change is perpetuating water scarcity in different contexts.
Council members and other member states are likely to echo many of the points made by the briefers. They might also emphasise that water is essential for human survival and condemn attacks on water-related infrastructure and services in contexts such as Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. Some may call for enhanced monitoring of attacks on such infrastructure and services and might advocate for their protection to be included in the mandates of UN peace operations. There may also be references to how the denial of humanitarian access in conflict zones prevents aid workers from providing water to populations in need and repairing water infrastructure. Some members might also observe that the adverse effects of climate change—including droughts, desertification, and rising sea levels—can limit access to fresh water for hygiene, drinking, sanitation, and agricultural purposes. They may also emphasise the need for conflict-affected states to build resilience to water shortages.
All the organisers and supporters of the meeting have a strong interest in the issue of water security. With the exception of Algeria and Sierra Leone, they are all part of the Global Alliance to Spare Water from Armed Conflicts. Formed in 2024 at the initiative of Slovenia, Switzerland, and the Geneva Water Hub (a research and policy organisation), the Global Alliance “galvanises efforts to protect the human dignity” of conflict-affected populations and “disseminate[s] existing legal and technical tools for the protection of freshwater and related institutions from armed conflicts”. Three of the meeting’s organisers (Slovenia, Algeria, and Sierra Leone) and one of its supporters (Costa Rica) currently co-chair the cluster on the protection of critical infrastructure that is part of the ICRC’s Global Initiative to galvanise political commitment to international humanitarian law.
