A/HRC/42/CRP.1
806. The right to water is considered as covered by Article 11 of the ICESCR, as it is
essential for securing an adequate standard of living.1303 According to the Committee on
Economic Social and Cultural Rights, the human right to water “entitles everyone to
sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and
domestic uses.”1304 An adequate amount of safe water is necessary to prevent death from
dehydration, to reduce the risk of water-related disease and to provide for consumption,
cooking, personal and domestic hygienic requirements. 1305
807. Following a similar reasoning as for the right to food, the Group of Experts has
reasonable grounds to believe that the right to water has likewise been violated by the
parties to the conflict. This is particularly true in relation to measures that led to the
destruction of or damage to water facilities, and others that limit access to clean water for
drinking and irrigation, including those limiting access to the necessary fuel for water
pumps. As shown by the cholera outbreak, which is said to be linked to the lack of access to
clean water for drinking and irrigation, the right to water and the right to food are closely
connected to the right to health.
The right to health
808. The right to health is closely linked to both the right to food and the right to water,
as well as economic rights, e.g. the right to work. For an individual to be able to realize the
right to health, one would need sufficient nourishment (right to food), hydration (right to
water), and sufficient income (economic rights) to afford that food, water, and a basic level
of healthcare. While interconnected to the other human rights examined above, Article 12
of the ICESCR explicitly sets out a distinctive right to health and defines steps that states
should take to achieve progressively, to the maximum available resources, the highest
attainable standard of health, including maternal and child health; environmental hygiene;
the prevention, treatment and control of disease; and medical service and attention for all.
809. The Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that both the Government
of Yemen and the de facto authorities have violated the right to health in failing to ensure
basic services, as well as the implementation of disease control programmes, leaving the
population vulnerable to preventable diseases. The non-payment of the salaries of health
workers in the areas under the control of the de facto authorities is also likely to affect the
fulfilment of the right to health. Finally, the right to health has further been violated by all
parties to the conflict during military operations, i.e. through the destruction of or damage
to health care facilities and their use for military purposes.
A looming environmental disaster: The Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) Oil Tanker
– Ras Isa
810. The Emergency Relief Coordinator has issued repeated warnings about the risk of
“an environmental disaster” posed by the FSO Safer oil tanker, which is a floating storage
and offloading facility eight kilometres off the coast of the Ras Isa terminal in the Red Sea.
The facility, containing 1.1 million barrels of oil, has had no maintenance since 2015.
According to experts, a spill from the FSO Safer would involve more than four times the
amount of oil released in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.1306 Since September 2018, the
United Nations had sought to conduct an assessment of the tanker.
811. Despite the potential for environmental disaster, no agreement has been reached on
how to deal with the FSO Safer oil tanker. The main problem seems to hinge on what to do
with the oil, with the Houthis suggesting that it has to be sold in international markets 1307
and the coalition blaming the Houthis for refusing to allow the offloading of the oil.1308
1303
General Comment No. 15 (2003) on the right to water para. 3.
General Comment No. 15 at para. 2.
1305 General Comment No. 15 at para. 2.
1306
http://sanaacenter.org/publications/the-yemen-review/7504#An-Environmental-ApocalypseLooming-on-the-Red-Sea.
1307 https://twitter.com/Moh_Alhouthi/status/1120092336208404482
1308 https://www.almushahid.net/?p=43175.
1304
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