At the 60th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 60), the Permanent Mission of Palau to the UN – in collaboration with the NGO Mining Working Group, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and Salesian Missions – advocated for the full implementation of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation called for in the political declaration of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Dr. Caleb Otto, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Palau to the United Nations, reminded the world that “access to water is essential to the empowerment of women.” Other panelists expanded on the concept of women’s empowerment through water justice by emphasizing the relationship between the human right to water and sanitation and other areas of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the eradication of poverty, education for all, and a healthy society, particularly for girls and women.
Emem Okon from WoMin, an African gender and extractives alliance, pointed to the impacts of pollution caused by extractive industries on the health, well-being, socio-economic rights and power of women in the Niger Delta.
Meera Karunananthan of the Blue Planet Project discussed the adverse impacts of the privatization of water and sanitation services on poor women.
Mark Gruin of International Orthodox Christian Charities told the audience that when his organization approached their counterparts in Tanzania expecting to put their limited resources towards medical services for the rural Tanzanian communities they served, they were told unequivocally that they needed clean water before anything else was possible.
Christiana Peppard, Professor at Fordham University stated that “access to water is a right to life issue because it is fundamental to all other human rights.”
The event concluded with a recognition of the role that women have played in defending land and water around the world. Recently assassinated Honduran activist Berta Càceres was remembered with a minute of silence. Of her ongoing legacy, participants reflected on the Latin American quote: “They buried us. They did not know we were seeds.”
