Social Forum 2022 - Opening statement by H.E. Andranik Hovhannisyan, Vice-President of the United Nations Human Rights Council - Embassy of Armenia to Switzerland and Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN office at Geneva

Social Forum 2022 - Opening statement by H.E. Andranik Hovhannisyan, Vice-President of the United Nations Human Rights Council

03 November, 2022

Water for Human Rights and Sustainable Development

Opening statement by H.E. Andranik Hovhannisyan,

Vice-President of the
United Nations Human Rights Council,

Geneva, 3 November 2022

High Commissioner for Human Rights,

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to open the fourteenth session of the Human Rights Council’s Social Forum, on behalf of the President of the Council, H. E. Mr. Federico Villegas.

In accordance with Council resolution 47/20, this fourteenth session will focus on water for human rights and sustainable development: good practices, lessons learned and challenges in implementing the International Decade for Action, with a view to making a human rights contribution to its midterm review next year.

Distinguished participants,

The social forum provides a unique opportunity to contribute to solutions to interconnected global challenges. It is clear that water and climate change are inextricably linked. Extreme weather events are making water more scarce, more unpredictable and more polluted. These impacts throughout the water cycle threaten sustainable development, biodiversity, and people’s access to water and sanitation.[1] Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress, and about 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year.

All people in all countries are entitled to water and sanitation without discrimination. Marginalized groups – women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and many others - are often overlooked by, and sometimes face active discrimination from, those planning and governing water and sanitation. Access to safe, affordable and reliable drinking water and sanitation services are basic human rights. They are indispensable to sustaining healthy livelihoods and maintaining people’s dignity. The human rights to water and sanitation are keys to eradicating poverty, building peaceful and prosperous societies, and ensuring that “no one is left behind” along the pathways to sustainable development.

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a spotlight on multiple challenges people face in securing respect of their fundamental rights to water and sanitation. Studies show that unsafe water sources are responsible for 1.2 million deaths each year.[2] In low-income countries, unsafe water sources account for 6% of deaths.

This Council has a long history in supporting the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. The explicit recognition of these rights by the UN General Assembly[3] in 2010 was a critical step in the promotion of these rights. More recently, we have witnessed a re-affirmation of this promising trend with the recognition for the first time by both the UNHRC and the UNGA, of “the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” through their respective resolutions namely; Council resolution 48/13 of 8 October 2021, and General Assembly resolution 76/300 of 28 July 2022. Indeed, while acknowledging the myriad challenges arising from the adverse effects of climate change, the Council has consistently called on States to ensure that human rights are central to their national responses to these challenges. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation has been instrumental in placing human rights at the centre of water and sanitation and has ensured a more prominent place on the Council's agenda, with States and development actors exploring how understanding and enforcing these rights can help to improve access to water and sanitation, and to help to address inequalities in access to these services. Other special procedures have also looked at the relevance and interlinkages of the rights to water and sanitation.[4]

Excellencies,

I congratulate the Co-Chairpersons-Rapporteurs and their team for having brought together a broad diversity of speakers from across the world’s regions.

The Social Forum provides a platform for more effective, inclusive, participatory and networked multilateralism as envisioned in ‘Our Common Agenda’. It enables an exchange of diverse views and concerns across different sectors, communities, countries, regions and cultural backgrounds to formulate new ideas and proposals for action to redress global challenges facing human rights.

Underlined by international cooperation and solidarity between peoples, nations and generations, broad participation, equal voice and representation, the forum provides a vital space for vibrant dialogues. It addresses the national and international environment for enabling the enjoyment of all human rights by all - civil, cultural, economic, political, social as well as the right to development and the right to a healthy environment. Its aims to coordinate national, regional and international efforts to promote social cohesion based on social justice, equity and solidarity and to address the social dimensions and challenges of globalization, provide a fertile ground to steer debates towards human rights outcomes to benefit everyone, everywhere, present and future generations.

I call on all participants to share good practices, lessons learned and challenges to help find solutions and bring human rights to the heart of the Water Conference.

I wish you all a fruitful discussion and I thank you.

[1] Water and Climate Change | UN-Water (unwater.org)

[2] https://ourworldindata.org/water-access

[3] A RES 64/292

[4] https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/SP/SDG6.pdf

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