The 10th World Water Forum (WWF) took place from 18 to 24 of May in Bali, Indonesia. Five heads of state and various government officials attended but a lack of ambition marked the ministerial declaration. There were 16 expressions of goodwill but no linkages to UN processes or civil society proposals considered at the UN 2023 Water Conference. There was no follow up on the creation of a Special Envoy for Water to the UN Secretary General; the consolidation of regular intergovernmental meetings dedicated to water and sanitation; the Water Justice Manifesto‘s call to establish concrete mechanisms to monitor commitments; nor the Butterfly Effect Coalition‘s call for the UN to declare a global water crisis. None of this was mentioned in the declaration, undermining the urgent need to make water a political priority at national and global level.
For a supposedly “multistakeholder” forum, the lack of civil society participation not only weakened the WWF outcomes but also the credibility of the process itself. The 10th edition of the WWF was defined by its lack of inclusion and by an absence of financial support for civil society – particularly for local organisations and community representatives from the Global South. This is despite the Butterfly Effect Coalition sending at least a dozen letters to the World Water Council and WWF secretariat to request reductions to prohibitive entry fees.
This lack of inclusion was pushed to the point of suppression at the People’s Water Forum (previously known as the Alternative Water Forum), who have met in parallel to the World Water Forum for more than 20 years with the aim of raising the voices of communities and defenders, affirming water as a common good and human right in the face of financialisation and corporate capture. The People’s Water Forum (PWF) was supposed to be held from 20 to 23 May at the Indonesian Arts Institute only for the venue to cancel at late notice due to pressure from the Indonesia government.
Water defenders subsequently experienced intimidation, harassment, and repression with police and paramilitary groups disrupting events and blockading local groups in the Oranjje Hotel. The PWF stated: ‘A press conference that took place on the afternoon of May 20 was violently disrupted by a masked group supported by the Patriot Garuda Nusantara (PGN), a sort of paramilitary force. Posters, billboards and banners of the PWF were torn down, while many local attendees were pushed and threatened […] an even larger number of these same people broke into the hotel where Indonesian social movements were staying, and blockaded the hotel. Water defenders were trapped in the hotel negotiating with a masked mob for their freedom of mobility and access to food, water and other essentials.’
When the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation Pedro Arrojo-Agudo attempted to visit water defenders in the hotel, 50 uniformed men and a greater number of masked men in plain clothes confronted him. Showing his blue UN passport, the Special Rapporteur asked to speak to the head of the security forces. Arrojo-Agudo was prevented from entering the hotel before being threatened and shoved (as shown in the video below). On 22 May water defenders were released and the PWF resumed, holding an intense one-day program where Indonesian organisations shared their efforts in the struggle for the human rights to water and sanitation.
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End Water Poverty published a statement in solidarity with water defenders asserting their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. Academics also published a press release denouncing attempts to shut down the PWF while other INGOs and civil society networks also expressed solidarity and condemned the violation of water defenders’ socio-political rights.
The fulfilment of the human rights to water and sanitation cannot be achieved without the involvement of civil society and without the most affected people at the table. This is why several EWP members supported community leaders and indigenous representatives from Africa, Asia, Latinamérica, and North América to participate in the World Water Forum. Patricia Silva López and Eusebio Pérez joined the Special Rapporteur for the launch of the Leave No One Behind policy brief, an advocacy tool that collates testimonies collected during the #HearingTheUnheardHRWS digital campaign that was presented at the UN 2023 Water Conference. These testimonies resulted in recommendations to member states and the international development sector. You can read the policy brief in English, French and Spanish.
Simavi’s Sandra van Soelen presents the Leave No One Behind policy brief at a WWF session titled ‘Hearing the Unheard: Water Justice for Humans and Nature’.
EWP members such as Cántaro Azul, Coalition Eau, Freshwater Action Network of South Asia (FANSA), Kenya Water and Sanitation Civil Society Network (KEWASNET), Mudem A.C., ONGAWA, Network of Water Rights Initiative (NEWARI), Redes del Agua, Simavi, and Water Integrity Network (WIN) participated in various sessions at the World Water Forum, including on: amplifying the voices of marginalised people; community water supply; protecting the rights of women and children though disaster risk reduction; water allocation and protection; sextortion; water weaponisation; and water access for people with disabilities.
Panel at a WWF session on the role of marginalised people in water policymaking.
Finally, the ministerial declaration has not been signed by countries and there is no mechanism to track or interrogate progress on commitments made at previous Forums. The World Water Forum was created in a moment where there was little space for discussions on water and still offers a space – albeit an increasingly exclusive one – to meet, discuss, share and learn from experiences across all regions. However, the lack of connection with UN processes initiated at UN 2023 Water Conference (officially known as the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for Sustainable Development’) raises several questions. Firstly, is the World Water Forum the right place to discuss the social and political dimensions of water? Or should we take the social and political dimension out of the WWF and leave it to the UN? As civil society, should we concentrate our energy and advocacy on planning for the next World Water Forum in Saudi Arabia or on making water a political priority and consolidating an inclusive intergovernmental mechanism for regular water meetings at the next UN Water Conference in 2026? These are the kind of questions and discussions we should start having in the following months if we want to achieve water justice and the human right to water and sanitation for all.
EWP members meet after the session ‘Hearing the Unheard: Water Justice for Humans and Nature’.