In Gaza, where 90% of the population has been displaced and close to 70,000 killed by Israel’s military campaign, three out of four people struggle to access toilets or sanitation facilities. Most homes, residential buildings, schools, and other basic facilities have been destroyed. In Darfur, Sudan, the razing of displacement sites, including the vast Zamzam camp, by the RSF has forced people to leave even the most basic forms of shelter and sanitation behind.
Genocidal wars in Gaza and Darfur not only force people to move away from homes, schools, and places of work, but away from even the most basic forms of sanitation. Sometimes around 400 displaced people share just one toilet, which is overflowing and unhygienic. In informal camps where many people end up, in both Gaza and Darfur, makeshift toilets can be the only access to sanitation for miles around. For women and girls, the lack of privacy is particularly distressing, and many in Gaza have reduced their intake of water to avoid trips to the toilet, resulting in health issues like kidney problems and haemorrhoids.
As we warned back in October 2023, the appalling weaponisation of water in all such conflicts, including Israel cutting off clean water supplies to Gaza, is a war crime and contributes to widespread starvation and famine.
Continuous wars, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ethiopia, from Sudan to Gaza, mean not only that human lives are being needlessly lost, but that human dignity is also being shredded, particularly of the most vulnerable and marginalised.
Attacks on basic health and sanitation access are clear violations of human rights and international law. The Geneva Conventions and additional Protocols of 1977 state that in times of war and conflict civilian populations must receive satisfactory conditions in terms of shelter as well as preventive and curative healthcare, dignity, and safe access to water and sanitation. These facilities must not become a target of war.
What hope of sanitation progress if genocide is being normalised?
The risk of normalising genocidal conflict can enable warring parties to act with absolute impunity. The impacts of war and conflicts undermine every development goal, including sanitation – which is already lagging way behind. The UN estimates that to reach sanitation targets by 2030, progress needs to be five times faster than it is at present. And two thirds of Africa’s population has no access to safely managed sanitation at all. Continuous wars, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ethiopia, from Sudan to Gaza, mean not only that human lives are being needlessly lost, but that human dignity is also being shredded, particularly of the most vulnerable and marginalised.
In February this year, Oxfam found that more than 80% of water and sanitation infrastructure across the Gaza Strip had been partially or totally destroyed. Residents have access to only one to three litres of water for all their needs. The minimum needed, according to the World Health Organization, is 15 litres per person. This abysmal water and sanitation situation – combined with the lack of waste collection – have led to high incidence of diseases, ranging from scabies to skin rashes, diarrhoea, cholera, viral infections like hepatitis A and E, and even polio, which had been eliminated from Gaza.
Water for peace? First, stop it becoming a weapon of war
What we really need this World Water Day is the international multilateral system to take a stand against weaponising water.
How women are dealing with bombed toilets
A recent study argues that 700,000 women and girls in Gaza have been denied basic menstrual health and dignity during Israel’s genocidal military campaign. Due to the lack of menstrual products, they have had to use compromised alternatives such as torn cloths, tent materials, and textiles, which has increased urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis, and other problems that can lead to long-term reproductive health problems. To cope, many women use menstruation-delaying pills, which carries several health risks, such as hormonal imbalance, bleeding, and nausea, not to speak of the significant psychological impacts and stress.
Violating rights with impunity
The very thread of the international rules-based order that has held together our global consensus – the concept of equality and, behind it, the idea of human rights – is now wearing so thin that it could snap at any time. In March, the US government officially rejected the UN SDGs, “citing sovereignty concerns and claiming a mandate from voters to prioritise American interests over global frameworks”. No other government has yet followed suit, but it may only be a matter of time given declining global solidarity and the normalisation of genocide.
We all take a daily dump, even global political leaders. It’s not something we choose to do. Like the act of breathing or drinking, we must do it. But to do it safely and in dignity is a right we deny to hundreds of millions of our fellow citizens because we allow acceptance of the status quo, and because we let those prolonging conflicts act with impunity. The purpose of the SDG sanitation target was to turn the right to sanitation into an obligation on states and other development actors. But with, arguably, even higher order rights – the right to life – being denied in plain sight, the right to sanitation for those in Gaza, in Darfur, and in so many other places around the globe continue to be violated day after day.
It’s therefore more important than ever for the international community and all nation states to call out and sanction war criminals in Israel, Sudan, and elsewhere. We must hold them and their supporters and enablers accountable for their genocidal crimes. Countries in the Global North need to remain committed to their development assistance obligations to water, sanitation, and other SDGs. We all share the same planet: You can’t save the world from security threats if insecurities concerning necessities and life itself are allowed to magnify. The EU and the UK need to challenge US-led trends on aid cuts, and reassert and provide renewed commitments to the global consensus on humanitarianism, development, and the rule of international law.
