Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / WATER HUMAN RIGHTS
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / WATER HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 3:34
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 - 23 MARCH 2023, NEW YORK CITY
22 MARCH 2023, NEW YORK CITY
1. Various shots, United Nations Headquarters, exterior
23 MARCH 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General, OHCHR:
“We know that we have to make more of an effort and a conscious and concrete effort to dismantle the architecture of inequalities. We have to rebuild the economies and we have to do that including the economics as well as the governance of water as part of this, with an architecture that really puts also human rights at the centre of that effort.
4. Wide shot, conference room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General, OHCHR:
“Here we are focusing particularly on indigenous peoples, women and youth. So let's remember also the intersectionality. Let's remember the that there are some even within these groups who are even more vulnerable and exposed than others and we need to find proper solutions from that.”
6. Wide shot, conference room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General, OHCHR:
“The framework for human rights to water and sanitation means that we have to prioritize water for personal domestic uses. That is an obligation by states and obligation for the progressive realisation of these rights. And of course, that also means that there has to be proper participation and it's not participation by being at the table or being in a room. It's participation in decision making.”
8. Wide shot, conference room
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Vital Bambanze, Batwa, Burundi, Africa Indigenous Peoples Coordinating Committee, current member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues:
“My recommendation would be is that at the international level, we should not take indigenous peoples issues as a separate issue, but we should address it holistically. We can't talk about the rights of indigenous peoples without talking about climate change, desertification, and biodiversity.”
10. Wide shot, conference room
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Francisco Cali Tzay, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
“The exclusion of indigenous peoples in the management of water and sanitation has had an impact. It's racist and discriminatory and it's impacted their socio-economic life and their human rights. In particular, I've noted how national water management systems work in most cases without the consent of indigenous peoples, or despite the fact that Indigenous peoples have been granted the human rights to self-determination.”
12. Wide shot, conference room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Danielle Kamtie, Vice President, World Youth Parliament for Water:
“When we come to the African context, the water challenges to be addressed are mainly the lack of sustainable governance. Not having key stakeholders equitably involved in the decision-making process like youth in Africa is the problem. The youth is not here to change the entire path but to take lessons learned from it in order to shape the future in an effective manner.”
14. Wide shot, conference room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Monti Aguirre, International Rivers Global:
“Indigenous people made up five percent of the world's population, but they're also protecting 80 percent of global biodiversity. Women have also been disproportionately impacted, because when there are some benefits, they're allocated to men. Downstream communities have been also heavily impacted by displacement, lack of food, water security. Dams endanger the rights to clean water for millions of people.”
16. Wide shot, conference room
On the sidelines of the UN 2023 Water conference, a special event was held aiming to putting equality and human rights at the centre of the agenda addressing the global water crisis.
Speaking at the special event “Reducing Inequalities, implementing human rights” in New York today (23 Mar), Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General at the UN human rights office told participants, “we have to make more of an effort and a conscious and concrete effort to dismantle the architecture of inequalities. We have to rebuild the economies and we have to do that including the economics as well as the governance of water as part of this, with an architecture that really puts also human rights at the centre of that effort.
Kehris also said, “Here we are focusing particularly on indigenous peoples, women and youth. So let's remember also the intersectionality. Let's remember that there are some even within these groups who are even more vulnerable and exposed than others and we need to find proper solutions from that.”
The Assistant Secretary-General reiterated, “The framework for human rights to water and sanitation means that we have to prioritize water for personal domestic uses.”
She said, “That is an obligation by states and obligation for the progressive realisation of these rights.”
Kehris added, “that also means that there has to be proper participation and it's not participation by being at the table or being in a room. It's participation in decision making.”
Vital Bambanze from Batwa, Burundi, who is representing the Africa Indigenous Peoples Coordinating Committee spoke at the event.
He said, “my recommendation would be is that at the international level, we should not take indigenous peoples issues as a separate issue, but we should address it holistically. We can't talk about the rights of indigenous peoples without talking about climate change, desertification, and biodiversity.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Francisco Cali Tzay, said, “The exclusion of indigenous peoples in the management of water and sanitation has had an impact. It's racist and discriminatory and it's impacted their socio-economic life and their human rights”
In particular, the Special Rapporteur noted “how national water management systems work in most cases without the consent of indigenous peoples, or despite the fact that Indigenous peoples have been granted the human rights to self-determination.”
Danielle Kamtie from World Youth Parliament for Water also spoke. She said, “When we come to the African context, the water challenges to be addressed are mainly the lack of sustainable governance.”
She explained, “Not having key stakeholders equitably involved in the decision-making process like youth in Africa is the problem. The youth is not here to change the entire path but to take lessons learned from it in order to shape the future in an effective manner.”
Monti Aguirre from International Rivers Global said, “Indigenous people made up five percent of the world's population, but they're also protecting 80 percent of global biodiversity. Women have also been disproportionately impacted, because when there are some benefits, they're allocated to men.”
She added, “Downstream communities have been also heavily impacted by displacement, lack of food, water security. Dams endanger the rights to clean water for millions of people.”
This special event's contributors will be Indigenous Peoples as knowledge holders, peasant communities, people living in informal human settlements in the periphery of large cities, and people facing discrimination by descent, race, gender or age and those who are most impoverished and marginalized, with emphasis on the perspectives that women and youth offer. Through their actions to promote or protect human rights in a peaceful manner, they are in effect, human rights defenders. They will present and explore the problems that break down or put at risk their and their communities’ human rights. By showcasing concrete examples highlighting the current state-of-affairs and gaps relating to the human rights, discussions will focus on the solutions that human rights defenders and stakeholders propose, have put in practice, and can be considered for replication.
It is co-organized by Women for Water Partnership, AquaFed, FILAC, African Youth Parliament for Water, UN OHCHR, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, International Indian Treaty Council, representing the Indigenous Peoples Coalition.
