U.N. Decries Water as Weapon of War in Military Conflicts

[undeterred]

Monday, May 19, 2014 - 16:13Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 (IPS) - The United Nations, which is trying to help resolve the widespread shortage of water in the developing world, is faced with a growing new problem: the use of water as a weapon of war in ongoing conflicts. The most recent examples are largely in the Middle East and Africa, including Iraq, Egypt, Israel (where supplies to the occupied territories have been shut off) and Botswana.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week expressed concern over reports that water supplies in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo were deliberately cut off by armed groups for eight days, depriving at least 2.5 million people of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation. "Preventing people's access to safe water is a denial of a fundamental human right," he warned, pointing out that "deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of essential supplies is a clear breach of international humanitarian and human rights law."

In the four-year Syrian civil war, water is being used as a weapon by all parties to the conflict, including the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the multiple rebel groups fighting to oust him from power. The conflict has claimed the lives of over 150,000 people and displaced nearly nine million Syrians. The violation of international humanitarian law in Syria includes torture and deprivation of food and water.

Maude Barlow, who represents both the Council of Canadians and Food and Water Watch, told IPS water is being increasingly and deliberately used a a weapon of war in recent and ongoing conflicts. During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the Mesopotamian Marshes were drained, she said. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein drained them further during the 1990s in retribution against Shias who hid there and the Marsh Arabs (Ma'dan) who protected them, she pointed out. The privatisation of water in Egypt and its diversion to the wealthy was a major factor in the "Arab Spring" uprising, said Barlow, a former senior advisor on water to the president of the General Assembly back in 2008/2009. Thousands suddenly had no access to clean water and "thirst protests" were partial catalysts for the large uprising.

Read more: http://www.iede.co.uk/news/2014_4585/un-decries-water-weapon-war-military-conflicts

[Ash_F]

1. It should be considered a war crime.

Thanks for sharing.

[misterhighwasted]

7. oh certainly a War Crime.

.."water was privatized & diverted to the wealthy".
Its happening in the US also. Same game plan.

[misterhighwasted]

2. Water & Politics. Bush Crime Family are also involved in Paraguay. Why would GW Bush

send his daughter Jenna, while in SA doing business for UNICEFF, to finalize the deal?

Water is a marketable commodity & bargaining chip.
And any savvy future thinking crime family may just need an escape hideaway,
should they ever be convicted for crimes against humanity.

UDETERRED: Your post reminded me of this Bush maneuver. Their reach into politics, shady hidden self-serving deals, clout in the world, and of course Water Wars. They view the world's supply of pure water as they view oil. A commodity to be exploited.

http://pimpinturtle.com/2008/07/31/bush-buys-100000-acres-on-border-of-paraguay--brazil.aspx

(snip) An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region.

(snip) He said that "it is a bad signal that the Bush family is doing business with natural resources linked to the future of MERCOSUR."

The official pointed out that this situation could cause a hypothetical conflict of all the armies in the region, and called attention to the Bush family habit of associating business and politics.

(snip)Another twist: The first story, from Paraguay, apparently refers to the senior
George Bush as the owner of the 98,840 acres in Moon’s neighborhood.
Bush 41 was the first bigshot politician to go prancing around with Rev. Moon in
public. Especially in South America:

“In the early stages of the Reagan Revolution that embraced the Washington
Times and Moon’s anti-Communist movement, it was embarrassing to be caught at
a Moon event,” wrote The Gadflyer last year. “Until George H.W. Bush appeared
with Moon in 1996, thanking him for a newspaper that ‘brings sanity to
Washington.’” That was while on an extended trip to South America in Moon’s
company. A Reuters’ story of Nov 25 of that year describes the former
president as “full of praise” for Moon at a banquet in Buenos Aires, toasting
him as “the man with the vision.” (And Moon helped Bush out with his own
vision thing, paying him $100,000 for the pleasure of his company.) Bush and
Moon then traveled together to Uruguay, “to help him inaugurate a seminary in
the capital, Montevideo, to train 4,200 young Japanese women to spread the
word of his Church of Unification across Latin America.”

Oh, and both the Moonie and Bush land is located at what Paraguay’s drug czar
called an “enormously strategic point in both the narcotics and arms trades.”
And it sits atop the one of the world’s largest fresh-water aquifers.

Interesting. There's much more & I found it as disturbing as everything else related to the Bush Crime Family.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Very strange alliance, isn't it?

[center]

Celebrating Moon birthday together



Neil Bush in Paraguay[/center]
Neil Bush, the Rev. Moon, Paraguay and the U.S. Dept. of Education

President's brother flaks for Moon organization in Latin America while his curriculum on wheels is being investigated by the Education Department's inspector general

by Bill Berkowitz / March 31st, 2008

http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/neil-bush-the-rev-moon-paraguay-and-the-us-dept-of-education/

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
So deeply creepy, sitting on all their land directly above the Guarani Aquifer, isn't it?

[misterhighwasted]

5. This property also sits above huge gas reserves. Oil wars & water wars

Why GW was selected.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Unbearable. Getting more primitive, and sadistic every day. How can this happen? n/t

[misterhighwasted]

6. "..access to water is a fundamental right".

That the UN even has to step in to make this point says just how little value human life has to these leaders.
Oddly there are elements of an old Science Fiction movie from years ago. Or maybe it was a SyFy book. I dont recall the name.
This situation is horrific.

[misterhighwasted]

8. K&R for Necessary Read. Thanks for the post.

k&r +++