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En los últimos años asistimos a un gran aumento de la conflictividad en torno a la defensa del agua. A pesar de que en 2010 el agua ha sido reconocida como derecho humano y cuenta con un extenso marco de protección, son muchas las vulneraciones de este derecho que se producen en el marco de proyectos extractivos, que causan gran impacto en los territorios en los que se implementan generando enfrentamiento con las comunidades y con las personas que defienden los recursos naturales. Las vulneraciones en las dimensiones del derecho al agua, como disponibilidad, acceso o calidad, se acompañan de múltiples violaciones en los derechos de las personas defensoras, que son asesinadas, perseguidas o amenazadas por la actividad que realizan, siendo muy altos los riesgos que enfrentan las mujeres defensoras, así como las comunidades indígenas. En muchos de estos proyectos se ponen en marcha mecanismos y estrategias de persecución, y criminalización que tratan de desactivar y desacreditar los movimientos colectivos, en un marco de impunidad de las empresas y complicidad de instituciones del estado.
La gran conflictividad en torno a la defensa del agua evidencia que los marcos y mecanismos de protección del derecho frente a la actuación de muchas empresas resultan insuficientes. Ante la falta de mecanismos de protección efectivos por parte de los estados y las violaciones cometidas por muchas empresas transnacionales en el marco del extractivismo hídrico, también han ido surgiendo proyectos de resistencia y de defensa en los territorios, que han ido articulando la lucha y la defensa por los derechos al agua, poniendo en valor los significados del agua, nuevas narrativas y alternativas en torno a otros modelos de organización y relación con la naturaleza. Las propuestas y miradas de estos movimientos deben ser tenidas en cuenta para avanzar en las reflexiones y análisis que van configurando el marco de defensa en torno al derecho al agua y con ello también, la conceptualización de este derecho.
Se hace un análisis del marco normativo de protección del derecho al agua y de los derechos de las personas que defienden los recursos naturales, seguido de un análisis de la realidad a través de informes que evidencian la vulneración de este derecho, mostrando con ello las debilidades del sistema de protección y la necesidad de mecanismos vinculantes. Por último, se analiza todo otro marco de defensa del agua, diferente al del derecho, que emerge desde los territorios a partir de los proyectos de resistencia colectiva que al mismo tiempo son alternativa y muestran otra forma de relación y organización del agua y el territorio.
Para el desarrollo de este artículo se han tenido en cuenta investigaciones previas en distintos países de América Latina, concretamente en Guatemala, El Salvador o México, contrastadas con numerosas fuentes primarias y secundarias procedentes de resoluciones e informes internacionales, así como distintos análisis de estos últimos años. Por ello, muchas de las reflexiones se ilustran y ejemplifican a través de casos concretos, que han sido previamente investigados y documentados.
In recent times the number of conflicts around the protection of water and natural resources have been increasing. Despite the fact that water has been recognized as a human right in 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/64/292) and the Human Rights Council (Resolution A/HRC/RES/18/1), and has an extensive framework of protection, there are many violations of this right in the context of extractive projects, which have a great impact on territories, and trigger confrontation with communities and people who defend the territory and their livelihoods.
This article aims to analyze the right to defend water resources, which are protected by a large number of international mechanisms, both individually and in association with others, and to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and the essential role that human rights defenders play in the recognition of this human right to water. This is recognized in the Declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms (Declaration on Human Rights Defenders).
Many of the extractive projects, such as the hydroelectric projects, mining activities, and agroindustry, have a great impact on violations of the right to water. These include availability, access (for example, with overuse and exploitation that limit the use to the population, preventing access to rivers) and quality ( polluting water resources). But there are also multiple violations of the human rights of water and natural resources defenders, who are killed, persecuted or threatened by the activities they carry out in their communities, confronting the economic development model and inequality in power relations between businesses and communities. In the implementation of these projects, mechanisms and strategies of persecution and criminalization against human rights defenders try to deactivate and discredit collective movements, within a framework of impunity for companies and complicity of state institutions. One of the strategies is the abuse of the judicial system and arbitrary detention of people and movements that oppose these projects.
Female human rights defenders face additional gendered risks and obstacles due to gender stereotypes, stigmatization, and historical discrimination. When they face the power of companies and the patriarchy, they are murdered, persecuted and stigmatized. Other groups like indigenous peoples suffer the consequences of protecting their water resources, facing the unsustainable management of natural resources and the impacts of the economic model that consider water as commodities without considering impacts on territory, climate change and livelihoods.
States have the obligation to respect, protect and realize the human right to water, while also protecting human rights defenders and ensuring a safe and enabling environment for their actions. Besides the states, and although they have the main responsibility for promoting human rights, non-state actors such as transnational companies are also bound by the international framework of human rights and environment rights. Consequently, they are duty bound to promote and respect the human rights as it is recognized in many United Nation resolutions.
However, given the data and the increasing number of attacks against natural resources and human rights defenders the framework of protection in the area of business and human rights is clearly insufficient. The voluntary and non-binding nature of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the lack of accountability and its lack of capacity to generate new obligations under international law, suppose great deficiencies. Although in recent years there are interesting initiatives in the enforceability of business and human rights, such as the process started in 2014 at the UN to elaborate a legally binding international instrument on transnational corporations and human rights, or the legal initiatives of due diligence like in French law, the negotiations are very complex and evoke great tensions.
For many peasant and indigenous communities, water is connected with the territory, and it is an essential resource for life and sustainability. This point transcends the limits and dimensions of the right to water approach. As extractivism linked to water resources has increased, undermining and violating water as a right and common good, resistance projects have also emerged in the territories. In the absence of effective protection mechanisms implemented by the states, they try to articulate the promotion and protection of water rights, highlighting the meanings of water, new narratives and, at the same time, building alternatives practices and institutions. Many of these collective initiatives have generated reflections, analysis frameworks and in many cases, important court decisions. The proposals and point of view of these movements must be considered in order to advance and converge in the reflections and configuration of water defense.
The structure of this article starts with a first analysis of the protection framework of the right to water and the rights of people who defend natural resources—particularly the special procedures of the Human Rights Council for the right to water, human rights defenders, and other mechanisms and resolutions of the General Assembly of United Nations—, combining this with different research and cases studies that evidence the violation of this rights. This will show the weaknesses of the protection system, and the unfulfillment of states and companies obligations. Finally, it analyses the protection and defense of water emerging from the territories, represented by collective resistance indigenous and peasant movements, displaying alternative practices, institutions and other relationships between people and environment.
For the development of this article, we have used previous research in different countries of Latin America, primary and secondary sources, as well as many reports from international organizations, and also many reports and advocacy campaigns of civil society organizations committed to human rights, and the right to water and environment. For this reason, some of the reflections are accompanied by specific examples of these cases studies, such as the hydroelectric Renace and Hidro Santa Cruz, in Guatemala, the megaproject Morelos Integral Project, the gas pipeline and thermoelectric in México, or the Coca Cola Bottler, in Nejapa, El Salvador.
