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addition, States that have withdrawn funding for water and sanitation services in Gaza have undermined
the ICESCR which requires all States to engage in international assistance and cooperation
for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. Any measure which causes retrogression
in the realization of the right to water and sanitation is a clear violation of the ICESCR.
- Further, as an occupying power, Israel is obliged to comply with International Humanitarian Law,
including the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War and customary international law. In particular, Israel must ensure that civilians are guaranteed
access to drinking water, water for personal hygiene and sanitation; ensure that public health and
hygiene is maintained in the occupied territory; comply with the prohibition on attacks to civilian
infrastructure, including drinking water instillations; respect the principle of proportionality which
requires that any reaction to an attack is not excessive by causing harm to civilians or civilian property
which outweighs the expected military advantage; refrain from punishing persons for offences
that they have not personally committed; and, permit and facilitate the delivery humanitarian
relief to the occupied territory.
Advocacy initiatives:
- On 28 October 2007, ten Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations petitioned the Israeli
Supreme Court, seeking an injunction against fuel and electricity sanctions. The petitioners argued
that the reduction of fuel and electricity supplies would cause widespread damage to essential
services in Gaza including health systems, water wells and sewage treatment facilities. Moreover,
they stated that the disruptions caused to the supply of essential goods and services amounts
to the collective punishment of the civilian population, since Israel is preventing the people of
Gaza from obtaining these goods and services from an alternative source. In its final ruling on 30
January 2008, the Supreme Court rejected the petition and upheld the Government of Israel’s
decision to reduce fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza. The Supreme Court erroneously argued
that as Israel’s occupation of Gaza had come to an end Israel holds no obligations under International
Humanitarian Law towards Gaza’s population. This goes against the widely held view that as
Israel maintains «effective control» over Gaza it continues to hold legal responsibility to ensure the
welfare of Gaza’s civilian population. Numerous United Nations Treaty Bodies and the International
Court of Justice have asserted that Israel is bound by the provisions of both International Human
Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law in the Occupied Territories.
- As efforts to hold Israel responsible for violations of human rights law and humanitarian law in
Gaza have largely failed, an increasing number of human rights and humanitarian organizations
have been placing pressure on other actors including the European Union to address the deteriorating
situation in the Gaza Strip. On 11 June 2008, eighteen organizations signed a letter calling
upon the European Union to place human rights conditionalities on Israel within the framework
of the EU-Israel Association Agreement including to ensure that Israel ends the blockade on the
Gaza Strip which has undermined the economic and social rights of Gazans. Further, the organizations
called upon the EU to access the extent to which its own external actions breached
fundamental principles of the European Union, including a respect for human rights.
© ACF - THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER AND SANITATION IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS