Water During and After Armed Conflicts: What Protection in International Law?

Nov 15, 2016 | Mara Tignino
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Armed conflicts affect water in several ways: destruction and damage of water facilities, attacks against power plants providing water supplies, and the collapse of water treatments and sewage systems. Air strikes conducted against water and electrical facilities in Syria and the contamination of groundwater resources in Gaza illustrate the many dimensions of armed conflicts’ impact on water. In her monograph, Dr. Mara Tignino examines the different regimes applicable to water during and after armed conflicts. Starting from an analysis of the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL), she also explores human rights law and international water law. She argues in favour of the complementarity of these regimes.  To allow for this complementarity to exist, Dr. Tignino supports the establishment of a single instrument that would gather all the rules protecting water during and after armed conflicts.