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    Plan détaillé Texte intégral The essential nature of waterWater and international law: it all starts with international riversResponsible sovereigntyWater, social justice and human rights Bibliographie Notes de bas de page Auteur

    Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality

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    Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality

    Inaugural lecture delivered at the Collège de France on Thursday 12 January 2023

    Laurence Boisson de Chazournes

    Traduit par Pieter Jan Kuijper et Jason Rudall

    Texte intégral Bibliographie Notes de bas de page Auteur

    Texte intégral

    1Mr. Administrator,
    Professors,
    Dear family and friends,
    Dear colleagues,
    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    2Water is omnipresent as a natural, as well as a social, religious and even mythological phenomenon. Moreover, there are political and legal aspects to be considered, though these are not always well understood and only partially identified. This is the case in international law, where there are still important grey areas.

    3Indeed, for a long time, it was only through the use of natural resources that international law was concerned with them. Environmental concerns, which have gradually emerged, as well as those relating to social justice, played the role of troublemakers in the last part of the twentieth century in the use of natural resources. For some resources, such as gas and oil, it is essential to drastically reduce their extraction and consumption. For others, it is a matter of protecting them; their use must be regulated with the aim of better management, or even safeguarding them. The protection of freshwater resources is an expression of this latter paradigm shift, which is only in its infancy.

    4Overexploitation, environmental degradation and climate change call for new approaches. Respect for human dignity is also required, calling for water management that is mindful of meeting basic human needs. This interweaving of new and different considerations poses a challenge to the traditional uses of water.

    5International law attempts to accommodate these concerns. It does so by taking into account the singularity of water as a natural resource, which is manifested by its essential nature.

    The essential nature of water

    6Visible or invisible, water is necessary to all forms of life. No organism can live without it. Its essential nature is also linked to its “essence”, that is to say to its own nature. Man and planet Earth, which it inhabits, are largely made up of water. Water is the essence of life and essential to our life.

    7This natural resource has always created myths and symbols, whether related to happiness and joy, or sadness and despair. It is an expression of our belonging in the world. We live in and of water. Many civilizations were born on the margins of a river. Many are the rites and celebrations, in each region of the world, that are held around a source of water, whether it is a well or a spring.

    8The essential nature of water also lies in its singularity. It makes up more than 50% of the human being, so it is not only an external reality for humans. Although we cannot live in water, we live from water. This singularity distinguishes water from other natural resources.

    9Most of the world’s surface is covered by water, earning the nickname “blue planet”. However, the amount of water available on Earth is surprisingly limited. Indeed, the accessible freshwater represents less than 1% of the water present on the planet. 97% is salt water and 2% is stored in glaciers or the polar ice caps. Invisible and poorly understood, groundwater represents about 99% of the available freshwater in liquid form on Earth. Unlike surface water, groundwaters are not immediately perceptible, which makes them all the more vulnerable to alterations in quantity and quality.

    10Present in stable quantities, water does not disappear, it is transformed. It takes different forms: solid, liquid or gas. The atmosphere and clouds, the oceans, rivers, lakes, soils, glaciers, snowfields and groundwater form the elements of the hydrological cycle, which knows no beginning and no end. It is the same amount of water that is present on Earth and has always been present, hence its “limited” character.

    11The finite nature of water stands out in the face of constantly increasing consumption. While the world’s population has quadrupled in the last hundred years, consumption of freshwater has increased sixfold and continues to increase. In addition, the depletion of ecosystems and the consequences of climate disruption highlight the difficulties of access to water. An indispensable and vital resource in human, social and cultural terms, freshwater is becoming scarce. It is essential for the environment and ecosystems, while often being abused and mistreated.

    12The scarcity of freshwater is a recent concern. It is only recently that its particular nature – what has been called its essential nature – has come to the fore in international law. This particular nature of water is becoming evident in different fields of international regulation. The reaction to this scarcity is, for now, only partial and patchy, as we shall see.

    Water and international law: it all starts with international rivers

    13We shall turn our attention to the international law resulting from the treaties of Westphalia (1648). It should nevertheless be noted that legal instruments governing the use of water resources have existed since Antiquity, particularly in Mesopotamia. It is the rivers and lakes shared by several States that have first been the object of attention of modern international law. International rivers cross and irrigate the different regions of the world. At present, there are nearly 250 of them. They are shared by several States, sometimes many. For example, the Nile Basin has 11 riparian States, the Niger River has six, as does the Mekong.

    14As the “veins” of the Earth, the international rivers cover and irrigate the different continents. Since the end of the eighteenth century, these natural resources have served as dividing lines. They serve as borders for countries that are being formed or reformed, or when the European powers, at the time of their colonial conquests, divided territories in Africa, Asia or South America. These delimitations, which are still relevant today, can be challenged by the needs of local populations when they claim the right to move on a river, to fish or to get water without having to worry about the obstacles of the political border.

    15Various contemporary international legal disputes have called attention to the tensions that can arise between border stability and interdependence in the access to water resources. These disputes have even provoked acts of violence. The tensions between Benin and Niger in the Niger River and Mekrou River area in the 1990s, but even more so those between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the Ferghana Valley, are examples of such problems. They have emphasized the need for governments to accept the practices of local communities and to allow people who inhabit different states along a river to live together. The increase in droughts and their impact on natural resources, particularly when they are scarce and difficult to access, underlines the need for foresight and political will to resolve tensions and conflicts, allowing a border not to be an obstacle to the daily life of local populations. In this context, let us pay tribute to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who accompanied the leaders of Cameroon and Nigeria in the 2000s in the implementation of an important judicial decision with a significant impact for the local populations.1

    16In addition to constituting natural frontiers for political delimitation, international waterways have been used by European states as transportation routes. The transport of goods and people by river developed quickly during the nineteenth century. Economic and technological changes favored an increase in trade. In the new political order that was taking shape, the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 advocated the negotiation of international agreements to promote freedom of navigation. This has been the case for the Rhine, the Danube, and later, for other rivers such as the Elbe and the Oder.

    17We then see the emergence of a pattern that will remain very prevalent, namely that of the management of an international watercourse at the level of its basin with, at its heart, a basin commission, following the example of the Central Commission of the Rhine or the European Commission of the Danube. These first efforts to institutionalize the management of common interests related to water resources underline the “intimate bond” that prevails between international law and institutions.2 The local level, that is the basin level, became the primary level for governing transboundary water resources in regulatory and institutional terms – which it remains today.

    18Navigation connects the land with the sea. It was used by the European powers to increase trade, and facilitated the expansion of colonization and the economic activities that resulted from it. In spite of the intention behind the Treaty of Versailles to preserve the broad contours that freedom of navigation established at the time, the political changes of the twentieth century led to progressive restriction in this respect, in particular by reinforcing the control exercised by the riparian states.

    19From the end of the nineteenth century, international rivers have been used for purposes other than navigation. This is the case for fishing, the production of hydraulic energy, irrigation, industrial uses and recreational purposes. Rivers or the “veins” of the earth, are also “arteries” of economic life. Erected in 1892, the Bartholdi fountain, a notable feature of the International, Universal and Colonial Exhibition of 1894 in Lyon, represents, according to the official bulletin of the exhibition, “a triumphal walk, of a serene impetuosity, whose calm majesty resembles rather the slow and powerful course of an ideal river, rather than the fast march of the Rhone or the precipitous fall of the alpine torrents”.3 The idea of power is obvious, symbolizing at the time the importance of rivers for the economic life of the countries they cross.

    20The rule of international law has been guided mainly by the concern for ordering the various uses of the watercourses that have been added over time. This ordering responds to a particular logic attached to the singularity of each river, which leaves its mark on the way in which the riparian States govern international rivers. No river resembles another, whether one considers it from a geographical or hydrological point of view, whether it is a question of the needs of the populations that depend on it or the development choices made by a State. Moreover, rivers are dependent on the political relations and power asymmetries that prevail between the riparian States: the signed treaties, concluded reflect these singularities. Sovereignty and an unwillingness to cooperate can prevent the adoption of a treaty, its modification or its necessary evolution.

    21At the universal level, the principles of international river management have a relatively general content. Only at the local level specifics can be taken into account. This is one of the characteristic features of the regulation of international watercourses, that of making room for singularity, while allowing it to nourish the formulation of principles of universal application. Thus, international law allows for a plurality of approaches, while defining common principles of action.

    22One of these principles, if not the cardinal principle, is that of the equitable and reasonable use of an international watercourse. This principle emerges, in practice, alongside the obligation to not cause significant damage to another riparian state. Both find their first anchorage in national laws in order to favour good neighbourly relations. Taken up in the context of relations between States, it is this same spirit of good neighbourliness that is intended to organize the management of an international watercourse, namely not to cause significant damage, while agreeing that everyone can use the shared waters. Use prevails in this perspective, to the detriment of a more comprehensive perspective that would leave room for the capacity of the natural environment to provide water. Each riparian must be able to benefit from the uses and the benefits derived from these uses. Each riparian is therefore entitled to assert his right to enjoy them. The terms of allocation, however, must be within the parameters of equity, not equality. Economic, hydrological, historical, prospective and social circumstances are the basis for this equity relationship.

    23Equity, a concept that is difficult to grasp to say the least, is the key word. It has to do with what is fair, what is proportional, and will have to be assessed in specific situations, case by case. It is primarily up to the interested parties living on the river to agree on this distribution in equity. Political rivalries are a hinderance and can prevent the possibility of an agreement or allow a status quo situation to persist. In such contexts, it is necessary that third-party actors – persons or institutions exercising a diplomatic or judicial function – seek to avert a tense situation from escalating by giving the parties involved the opportunity to reach an agreement or by rendering a final judgment. However, it should be borne in mind that it may be difficult for a judicial third-party to decide what would be an equitable situation, when elements of perception and diplomacy, or insufficient knowledge of the water resource, are blocking an agreement being reached. It will often be necessary to make use of confidence-building measures to which the judge or the arbitrator cannot have recourse. A third-party who enjoys the trust of the parties and exercises a diplomatic mandate would undoubtedly be better able to inform and enlighten them as to the issues at stake and the possibilities for agreement. In this context, the success of the good offices of World Bank President Eugene Black, which led to an agreement on the Indus River between India and Pakistan in 1960, should be mentioned.4 This success has a special place in the annals of diplomacy. It is an initiative that deserves to be replicated in other river basins.

    24For a long time, the principle of equitable and reasonable sharing was based on a perspective of abundance, in the sense that there was no place for limitations on water use. The presupposition was that there was enough water, which made it possible for a distribution of uses to take place when these uses arose. They added up. However, various developments in the latter part of the twentieth century have led to a questioning of this assumption. It is becoming necessary to manage water better, in a temporal perspective linking present and future, environmental protection and water uses. The notion of “shared natural resources”, to which the International Court of Justice has resorted to qualify international watercourses within the framework of disputes relating to hydroelectric production and industrial uses or dealing with the allocation of uses, is playing an important role in this context.

    25The overexploitation of resources and the impact of climate change in particular are challenging an understanding of equity that is based on the starting point of abundance. This equity must integrate the notion of limitation. Uses must be distributed taking into account the “life” of the resources themselves, as well as that of the ecosystems which depend on them. The components of nature are related to each other. The links between groundwater and surface water are often forgotten, yet the mutual nourishment of these resources is a source of sustainability. In the latter part of the twentieth century, these concerns gradually found their way into international law. They are expressed through the demand for the sustainable management of watercourses, including the various components of environmental protection. Negotiated basin agreements are incorporating this approach, with more or less emphasis.

    26A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to understand the sustainability of a river as a whole. We understand the importance of protecting the watercourse in its wider drainage basin, bounded by its watershed. In this sense the various uses of land, air and water are understood as inherently interlinked. This also aptly expressed in the 1997 United Nations Convention on International Watercourses, according to which a watercourse is the “system of surface waters and groundwaters constituting by virtue of their physical relationships a unitary whole and normally flowing into a common terminus” that must be protected.5 The addition of uses without recourse to such an perspective is no longer appropriate. The principle of integrated management is essential, that is management that takes into account social and economic issues while respecting the principles of environmental protection. The law must be able to give consistency to this notion of integration, requiring that the various bodies of standards adjust to each other. To do this, the requirements of equity, bearing the rights of present and future generations, are essential.

    27In this context, initiatives taken in the 2000s promote intragenerational equity by enshrining access to water for all human beings as an international public requirement. This allows the various uses of a watercourse to make room for the satisfaction of domestic and personal needs. Some treaties already specified this. Nevertheless, this access to water for every human being now becomes an objective interest that takes precedence over all other uses. It is in this context that social justice and human dignity find their way into the law of transboundary water resources, as we shall see below.

    28Alongside a demand for the equity of limitation, other normative approaches must be drawn on, such as the recognition of rivers and lakes as subjects of law, and therefore entitled to protection. This approach gives a legal voice to the components of the environment. Representatives of these components are appointed, including indigenous and local people. The Whanganui River in New Zealand, the Ganges River in India and Bangladesh, or the Atrato River in Colombia are examples. These rivers have all been recognized as legal entities with rights in ways and legal configurations that may vary. This trend is currently taking place at the national level. It could be emulated at the international level with common legal regimes that protect them in their transboundary dimension. Being a beneficiary of rights means being able to assert them against uses and decisions that do not respect them. It is a legal way for nature to enter into the discussion, through its representatives, on the merits of the uses envisaged.

    Responsible sovereignty

    29Freshwater is associated with the notions of territory and state jurisdiction. With respect to the uses of watercourses, international law has conditioned the exercise of state sovereignty through the emergence of principles such as freedom of navigation, equitable and reasonable utilization, and the obligation not to cause significant harm, as well as the principles of information exchange and consultation. In view of these principles, States are obliged to respect the interests of other riparian States, whether these watercourses are contiguous or successive. The riparian States form “a community of interest in a navigable river” which “becomes the basis of a common legal right” according to the terms of the Permanent Court of International Justice in a judgment concerning the Oder River in 1929.6 They must therefore comply with the requirements of cooperation, which condition the exercise of their sovereignty.

    30An additional step was taken at the end of the twentieth century. To condition sovereignty, a new dimension was added, that of “responsible sovereignty”. To speak of protection and sustainable management of water resources requires, in fact, to focus attention, in addition to international rivers, on the multiple components of the hydrological cycle, both national and international. Alongside sovereignty conditioned by the constraints of good neighbourliness, the concept of responsible sovereignty is emerging for every State with regard to the natural resources located on its territory, and among these are water resources. The new Global Biodiversity Framework adopted, with quite some difficulty, by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022 bears witness to this approach.7

    31The prism of good governance of water resources is thus not only that of vicinity and the obligation of a State to ensure that other riparians do not suffer harmful effects. It also becomes one of diligent behavior by the State with respect to any water resource located on its territory or under its jurisdiction. Every State thus becomes accountable and cannot hide behind the veil of its sovereignty. International environmental law is relevant in this context, as is the body of human rights.

    32As we have seen, the rule of international law over freshwater has been shaped primarily by the yardstick of international rivers. As a result, international law has paid little attention to other water resources. Groundwater deserves special attention in this context. Groundwater is crucial for life on earth: it accounts for almost 99% of the world’s freshwater resources8 and is the main resource used worldwide for the supply of drinking water.

    33Although the underground water reservoirs are voluminous, they are subject to the challenge of depletion. Climate change but also abusive extraction contribute to the decrease of water levels in this context. All sectors of activity, agricultural, industrial or urban, are pumping out more and more water, deeper and deeper into the Earth’s groundwater resources. The lack of rainfall is one cause, economic development is another. And no region of the world is spared.

    34Imperceptible to the naked eye, groundwater is also invisible in the eyes of the law. Unseen, these underground resources remain captive to State sovereignties. International law has its say, but it says very little. Yet the challenges are great. The ecological vulnerability of these resources and the risk of their drying up must be taken into account. We need to develop knowledge about them. In other words, it is necessary to make these waters – which are still largely unknown in terms of international law – visible and protect them.

    35In the case of groundwater shared by two or more States, legal protection proceeds through the negotiation of treaties. However, such treaties are still few in number. In addition to the Helsinki Convention on transboundary rivers and lakes, adopted in 1992, which is a framework agreement also covering transboundary groundwater, we can mention the 2007 Convention on the protection, use, recharge and monitoring of the Franco-Swiss Genevese Groundwater Table, the 2010 Guarani Aquifer Agreement between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the 2015 Agreement between the Jordan and Saudi Arabia for the Management and Utilization of the Ground Waters in the Al-Sag/Al-Disi Layer. A recent initiative concerns the Senegal-Mauritania aquifer basin, which was the subject of a declaration signed in 2021 by Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, these four countries being more than 80% dependent on groundwater. Consultation, coordination and decision-making mechanisms have been put in place to collectively manage the underground water resources. By adopting these instruments, the States recognize that they have a common interest and that cooperation is necessary, even if the legal language used may vary and be more or less binding from one instrument to another.

    36These legal acts relate to only a few shared groundwater resources. At the universal level, common principles of action intended to cover all these resources have been codified by the United Nations International Law Commission. They are very similar in content to those applicable to international watercourses. This is the case with the principles of good neighbourliness already mentioned in relation to transboundary rivers. The allocation of uses in application of the principle of equitable and reasonable use and the obligation not to cause significant damage remain key. However, the recognition of the fragility of aquifers and the limited knowledge regarding these resources is also mentioned. A precautionary approach is advocated because of the uncertainty about the resource as such and its vulnerability to pollution. The exercise of sovereignty, groundwater use and risk management are thus linked. For the time being, these principles have a mainly recommendatory value. The States are still very reluctant to commit themselves to a legal path for the better management of these shared resources.

    37In addition to groundwater, it should be noted that a number of other water sources have not yet received sufficient attention. Glacial formations fall into this category. At present, they are only considered by international law as part of a territory or as an element under the jurisdiction of a coastal State in the sense of the international law of the sea. This is the case with icebergs that have broken off from polar glaciers and are drifting with the ocean currents. They represent a considerable potential as a freshwater resource, exceeding the combined volume of all the world’s rivers. However, there is no legal instrument that regulates the use and appropriation of icebergs. As aggregates of solidified water, icebergs have been considered by some States as a natural resource with economic benefits. However, the scope of the notion of “natural resource” and its regime vary according to the regions and spaces where icebergs are formed. Are they natural resources subject to use? Are they resources similar to natural mineral resources in the sense of the Antarctic regime? or are they natural resources with a special status? Are they res nullius on the high seas, res communis, within the limits of protection of collective interests associated with this concept, or rather components of a common heritage of humankind in the making? The uncertainties remain. The impact of climate change calls for a mobilization to agree on a legal regime that protects these freshwater resources.

    38The same is true of atmospheric water. A phase of the water cycle coveted in times of drought or despised in times of flooding, clouds are difficult to characterize by the law. Do they fall under the territorial sovereignty of the State over which they are located? Or are they res nullius and susceptible to appropriation? Is it possible to modify or seed them? States may indeed be tempted to intervene on clouds in order to modify their precipitations and in turn seek to alleviate water shortages on their territory. As a consequence, other regions would ultimately be deprived of the benefits of precipitation, that is of the “intercepted” water. Wouldn’t there then be a risk of significant damage to another State through the occurrence of droughts or floods? Moreover, there is great uncertainty about the effects of such practices. Should clouds fall under a collective regime driven by common interest and equity? They disregard the constraints of territorial sovereignty and the exercise of jurisdiction associated with it. They continuously lose water droplets and acquire new ones in the course of their movements. For the moment, the governing concept seems to be that of res nullius, but is it satisfactory? The Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, adopted in 1976, comes to mind. This convention was negotiated in the context of the Cold War, when various laboratories were conducting research on the destabilization of the climate by nuclear weapons and when the defoliant Agent Orange, as well as other substances, had caused havoc in Vietnam. Shouldn’t we adopt, as a continuation of this convention, a legal instrument that regulates the possibilities of modifying the climate, including clouds, precipitation, droughts, cyclones or tornadoes, in order to protect the hydrological cycle and the environment?

    39Surface water, groundwater, all must be protected and managed in a sustainable way. The links between better environmental protection and water protection are numerous. Water contamination by pesticides, chemicals or microplastics, problems related to urbanization and wastewater discharge, are all factors in the degradation of water quality, with consequences for health, biodiversity and ecosystems. Poor land management practices and deforestation lead to changes in rainfall patterns, problems with groundwater recharge and the drying up of large areas of land. Variations in precipitation and temperature due to climate change impacts are affecting the flow of rivers.

    40Various environmental protection agreements exist to deal with some of the problems mentioned. For example, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (1971), which highlight the functions of wetlands against flooding or coastal erosion, or the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and the renaturation programs in river basins conducted under its impetus. The Convention to Combat Desertification (1994) emphasizes the link between overexploitation of watersheds through deforestation, overgrazing or the use of inadequate irrigation techniques and the drying up of rivers or groundwater. For their part, the commitments of the Paris Agreement on climate change will help combat the effects of rainfall variations or extreme hydrological events.

    41The rule of international law must be able to reconcile water uses and environmental protection. The economic uses of water or its derived uses are numerous. The need to reform them, if not to overhaul them entirely, in order to preserve water quality, sufficient access to water and respect for the protection of the environment is essential. The legal instruments and means involved in this cause are numerous, whether they are universal, regional or local, as well as general or specific in scope. The law of international watercourse, environmental law, international trade law, investment law, financial law, human rights, all have their say.

    42The State is a key actor, but it does not act alone. Access to information and participation in decision-making processes are advocated by various international principles and agreements, with a view to enabling individuals, local communities, minorities, indigenous peoples and non-governmental organizations to act within national or regional public spaces. Participatory and deliberative techniques are diverse, highlighting the merits of experimentation from one country to another, but also the need for reflection on the meaning of democratic legitimacy and its different faces.

    43Private actors, including private and public companies, also have an important role to play in the protection and management of water resources. Their investments in research and development activities as well as in programs and projects are crucial. We can mention, for example, the issue of the treatment of harmful substances or wastewater, the transition to less water use, or access to water for all promoted by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Certain international agreements guide the intervention of the private sector. The path of accountability through codes of conduct is also favored.

    44Water is a natural resource that must be protected in its particular features, because of its essential character. The prohibition of the use of certain substances, the modification of certain industrial and economic practices, the preservation of certain sources and reservoirs, access to water for all human beings, anticipatory measures, and respect for the environment are among the necessary protection and management measures. Their initiation and implementation are based on political will, which must be deployed at the level of the State and in sub-State communities, as well as within international organizations. Sectoral compartmentalization must be replaced by an integrated approach to the various bodies of norms. Clashes and conflicts must be resolved on the basis of the essential nature of water and environmental protection. Singularity and plurality are present in this quest. Indeed, international law covers water in all its different facets, social, cultural, economic or as a component of the environment. The management and protection of water resources demands that international law takes an approach that is both plural and integrates the various applicable norms. It deals with a transversal subject.

    Water, social justice and human rights

    45It is in an interstate context that international law first dealt with access to water resources, their management and protection. The personal needs of individuals had been considered in certain treaties dealing with specific watercourses. However, full consideration of such needs did not occur until the 1990s. A trend towards the humanization of water management followed, which manifests itself through demands for more social justice. One of the key elements of this evolution is the emergence of a human right to water within the international legal order. A number of human rights treaties have made room for it, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) or the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2007). Some agreements dealing with water resources do the same. For example, the Protocol on Water and Health to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (1999), the Senegal River Water Charter (2002), the Niger Basin Water Charter (2012) and the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter (2012).

    46However, it is United Nations law, in its recommendatory dimension, that finally plays a primordial role in the recognition of the right to water for all human beings. It has become salient since the first United Nations conference dedicated to water in 1977, then from the 1992 conferences dedicated to sustainable development. The year 2010 is a pivotal year when the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council called for mobilization to protect the right to drinking water and sanitation, a call that is reiterated thereafter regularly. It is a question of “entitling everyone, without discrimination, to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses”.9 Independent experts and special rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council have since tried to give substance to the recognition of this right, as have national constitutions and legislation and national and international courts.

    47From an operational perspective, the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was unanimously endorsed – at a time in our history when we are so fractured – by the Organization’s members in 2015, reflects the commitment, in the form of one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to guarantee access to safe drinking water and sanitation for all by 2030.10 This agenda calls for “multi-stakeholder” mobilization: States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and private sector representatives must all strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. One of the virtues of this strategy based on objectives to be achieved is to place access to water at the heart of public policies and thus raise its visibility and status. Other uses of water (industrial, agricultural, etc.) must make room for it and evolve in favor of better access to water for everyone. The challenges are great; some progress has been made, but the goal is still far from being reached.

    48Access to water is essential to the full realization of many human rights. This intrinsic link is revealed in different ways. The Rubik’s cube metaphor allows us to highlight them, while underlining their intertwinement. This is the case for the relationships that access to water has with health, the environment, culture and human dignity.

    49The decisions of various human rights institutions reveal many of these connections. For example, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have emphasized that the right to life of indigenous peoples is jeopardized if they cannot benefit from their traditional lands and natural resources, including water resources. The African Commission on Human Rights has recognized the link between the right to access water sources and respect for religious freedom. It has also emphasized that the right to health cannot be fulfilled if the State does not ensure that no third party degrades or pollutes water sources. The European Court of Human Rights has deemed that water pollution interferes with a person’s private and family life because it affects their well-being.11 The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in a comment on the “right to life”, considered that the provision of essential goods and services, such as water, enables the respect of the right to life with dignity.12 These bodies have also reiterated the importance of an individual’s right to be informed and to participate in a decision before a State authorizes an economic project that may have an impact on the environment and water resources.

    50If human rights must be protected in times of peace, they must also be protected in times of armed conflict, together with international humanitarian law. It is this latter body of norms, also known as the “law of armed conflict”, which is then applied, whether the conflicts are international or non-international. It regulates the conduct of hostilities in order to reduce the suffering of the civilian population. Other bodies of norms, including human rights, may be applied under certain conditions. This plural application of several sets of norms allows for better protection of fundamental rights, as well as for some protection of water resources and the environment. Nevertheless, much remains to be done to improve the latter during an armed conflict.

    51Water resources are often caught in the middle of armed conflicts. They are indispensable for the population; they can also be used as a weapon to weaken the enemy by shelling water pipes or supply infrastructures. The bombing of electrical installations in various conflict areas, for example in Ukraine, is evocative. These infrastructures contribute in particular to the supply of water to the civilian population and to the supply of water to hospitals. The takeover of dams by ISIS, as happened in northern Iraq in 2014, carries for its part, the risk of releasing water from a reservoir to flood territories and homes downstream and cause enormous damage.

    52The law of armed conflict attempts to limit the effects of a conflict while adhering to the logic of war. The distinction between military targets and civilian objects, military necessity and proportionality are cardinal principles for assessing the legality of military actions. With regard to water resources, international humanitarian law also contains some specific rules such as the prohibition of poisoning them as a means of combat, the prohibition of the destruction of dams and reservoirs, the prohibition of the destruction of indispensable goods to the survival of the civilian population, and the prohibition of starvation as a method of warfare.

    53Within this web of standards and rules, the question of dual use of a facility proves to be central. What if an installation is dedicated to supplying electricity and water to both military and civilian personnel? In addition to the obligation to demonstrate the effective contribution in military terms of an action, the latter must be assessed, in terms of proportionality, by the direct and indirect consequences on the civilian population. Indirect or cascading and foreseeable effects in the circumstances at the time of the attack must be taken into account in the proportionality assessment. The inclusion of indirect effects in the proportionality assessment is particularly important in urban warfare contexts. The nature of public services in cities and the resulting vulnerability adds a dimension of complexity to the proportionality assessment. Belligerents must also implement precautionary measures, either active or passive. In the first case, parties to an armed conflict must take all feasible precautions to avoid, in the conduct of their military operations, any act that could destroy or damage water sources, water supply, water treatment and water distribution systems. As part of the implementation of passive precautions, parties to a conflict have the option of establishing secure areas around water infrastructure to consolidate its protection. In addition, it must be assessed whether the strike is intended to spread terror among the civilian population, which is prohibited. Therefore it is easy to understand that a case-by-case assessment must be made.

    54In this context, the corpus of human rights makes its contribution by aiming to take full account of the essential needs of populations through the interpretation of the principles applicable to the conduct of hostilities, such as those of military necessity, proportionality and precaution. These rights are also applied directly. Thus, the African Commission on Human Rights has recalled that acts of pollution of air, water and soil that violate the right to health are prohibited in peacetime as well as in times of armed conflict. Environmental law, likewise, can limit the effects of the conduct of hostilities by recalling that the notions of vulnerability and scientific uncertainty must guide all decision-making, including military decisions. Unless otherwise provided, multilateral environmental agreements continue to apply during armed conflict. Under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and the UNESCO Convention on Cultural and Natural Heritage, areas protected by these legal instruments cannot become the stage of military operations. The law on international watercourses also applies in times of armed conflict. Moreover, the basin commissions of a certain number of rivers have allowed a dialogue to be initiated between the belligerents. This was the case for the Danube Commission, which, during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, served as a discussion forum for issues related to navigation on the river; or the case of the Senegal River Basin Development Organization that occurred during a conflict between Senegal and Mauritania in the late 1980s. In the latter case, the organization provided a forum for the parties in order to find a solution to their dispute.

    55Various voices have been raised to warn against the bombing of civilian infrastructure crucial to the supply of essential goods to the population13 and to raise attention to the consequences of this destruction in terms of access to water.14 These voices should be heard with a view to enforcing the legal norm and clarifying its content. Additional measures should be considered, such as the establishment of special protection zones around some facilities or the secure interventions of qualified personnel for repair purposes. They would be like Blue Helmets for infrastructure.

    56In this quest for social justice and access to water, international criminal law also has a role to play. The crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are likely to be relevant. The situation in Darfur in the early 2000s, for example, has led to judgments that emphasize the relationship between access to water and genocidal practices.

    57The application by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant against the former head of State Al Bashir, called attention to the Sudanese government that destroyed systematically the means of survival, including wells and water pumps. It thus targeted part of the civilian population in Darfur, and“[t]he aim was to ensure that those inhabitants not killed outright would be unable to survive without assistance”.15 This indictment recalled the “hostile desert environment”16 of the region.

    58The Trial Chamber, for its part, considered that the contamination of wells and water pumps in towns and villages was not a central element of their attacks. However, in a separate and partially dissenting opinion, Judge Anita Ušacka found that the systematic destruction of the group’s means of survival, including water supplies, had to be considered in the context of the harsh conditions of Darfur where water resources are scarce. She found that the evidence did provide reasonable grounds to believe that the group’s means of survival were systematically destroyed and that conditions existed that would result in the physical destruction of the group, within the definition of genocide. The judge added that forcing people to flee their villages, “particularly in a context like Darfur […], where causing persons to flee their villages may result in an acute lack of access to water supply and therefore almost certain death”.17

    59In a subsequent judgment, a chamber of the International Criminal Court followed the prosecutor in finding that the acts of contaminating water pumps and forcibly transferring populations were perpetrated as part of the State authorities’ genocidal policy.18 This case underlined the links between lack of access to water and the elimination of a population. Crimes against humanity may also allow for the punishment of water related actions with wide scale consequences.

    60Water issues can also be approached from the criminal law side by defining certain actions as environmental offences or crimes. The problems of soil and water contamination are an example.

    61The concept of “ecocide” was originally evoked following the environmental and human devastation resulting from the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The propagator of this concept, the biologist Arthur Galston, wanted to use it to condemn the destruction of all human, animal or plant life in specific geographical areas. According to him, ecocide corresponds to “the willful and permanent destruction of environment in which a people can live in a manner of their own choosing”.19 Diplomatic circles, doctrine and citizen initiatives have taken up the cause to condemn such practices as criminal acts. Some States are advocating an amendment to the Statute of the International Criminal Court in order to recognize acts of ecocide as crimes under international law, in the same way as war crimes, the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity or the crime of aggression. Therefore, there is a proposal to add a fifth international crime to the Rome Statute: the crime of ecocide.

    62The crime of ecocide has recently been defined as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.20 One of the strengths of this definition is that it does not require proof that people have suffered harm. Indeed, ecocide refers to the most serious crimes committed against the environment and not against human beings. It aims at preventing and punishing the endangerment of the environment. The crime of ecocide is already integrated into several national penal codes.

    63In addition to the prohibition of war crimes, the provision of which includes “intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause [...] widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated”21, significant environmental damage is gradually becoming subject to condemnation by international criminal law. If we turn our attention to water resources, these can be the object of devastation and destruction, which aim, according to Arthur Galston’s definition mentioned above, “the willful and permanent destruction of environment in which a people can live in a manner of their own choosing ought.”22 Thus, it was considered that the voluntary draining, in 1991, of the marshes where a Shiite population in southern Iraq – the Maadans – lived between the Tigris and the Euphrates, intended to dislodge insurgents, could constitute such a violation of international criminal law.

    64One of the virtues of the crime of ecocide is that it allows for practices to be condemned in times of armed conflict as well as in times of peace. It is at all times that such acts should be prosecuted.

    65International criminal law acts as a marker of the common values that international society, in its various components, intends to defend. It bears witness to a legal solidarity with them, as these values emerge and consolidate through the bodies of norms that support and underpin them. The law is not limited to the identification and classification of values, it is a “normative” instrument and, as such, a transformative process.23 Water issues are gradually finding their place among these values, either by themselves or as components of the environment. This development opens the door to the more effective protection of human dignity as well as the living environment in international criminal law but also in other areas of international law.

    Bibliographie

    Des DOI sont automatiquement ajoutés aux références bibliographiques par Bilbo, l’outil d’annotation bibliographique d’OpenEdition. Ces références bibliographiques peuvent être téléchargées dans les formats APA, Chicago et MLA.

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    Tignino, M. (2016). Water During and After Armed Conflicts (1–). BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004338425
    Zeitoun, M. (2023). Reflections (1–). Oxford University PressNew York. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197575123.001.0001
    Tignino, Mara. “Water During and After Armed Conflicts”. []. BRILL, November 14, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004338425.
    Zeitoun, Mark. “Reflections”. []. Oxford University PressNew York, March 23, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197575123.001.0001.
    Tignino, Mara. Water During and After Armed Conflicts. [], BRILL, 14 Nov. 2016. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004338425.
    Zeitoun, Mark. Reflections. [], Oxford University PressNew York, 23 Mar. 2023. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197575123.001.0001.

    Cette bibliographie a été enrichie de toutes les références bibliographiques automatiquement générées par Bilbo en utilisant Crossref.

    Boisson Chazournes Laurence de and Salman S.M.A. (dir.), Water Resources and International Law, Leiden/Boston, Brill/Nijhoff, The Hague Academy of International Law, coll “Centre for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations”, no. 6, 2005.

    Boisson Chazournes Laurence de, Fresh Water in International Law [2013], Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2021.

    Boisson Chazournes Laurence de, Leb Christina and Tignino Mara (dir.), International Law and Freshwater: The Multiple Challenges, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, coll. “New Horizons in Environmental and Energy Law series”, 2013.

    Boisson Chazournes Laurence de, Mbengue Makane Moïse, Tignino Mara, Sangbana Komlan and Rudall Jason (dir.), The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses: A Commentary, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018.

    Bourgeois-Gironde Sasha, Être la rivière, Paris, PUF, 2020.

    Brown Weiss Edith, International Law for a Water-Scarce World, Leiden/Boston, Brill/Nijhoff, coll. “The Hague Academy of International Law Monographs series”, no. 7, 2013.

    Caflisch Lucius, “Règles générales du droit des cours d’eau internationaux (Volume 2019)”, Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law, 1989, p. 9-225.

    Dupuy Pierre-Marie and Kerbrat Yann, Droit international public, Paris, Dalloz, coll. “Précis”, 2022.

    Galland Franck, Guerre et eau. L’eau, enjeu stratégique des conflits modernes, Paris, Robert Laffont, 2021.

    Kridis Noura (dir.), Maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales et la gestion des ressources en eau, Tunis, Maison du Livre, 2018.

    Leray Grégoire, “Réflexion à propos du statut juridique du nuage”, Recueil Dalloz, no. 22, 2022, p. 1144.

    Maljean-Dubois Sandrine, “L’écocide et le droit international, de la guerre du Vietnam à la mise en péril des frontières planétaires, Réflexions à partir de la contribution de Richard Falk : ‘Environmental warfare and ecocide. Facts, appraisal and proposals’”, Belgian Review of International Law, vol. 48, nos. 1-2, 2015, pp. 359-367.

    Michel Nicolas, “Two Cases in Perspective: Boundary Delimitation in the Bakassi Peninsula and Criminal Accountability in Kenya: Interview of H.E. Kofi Annan”, in Laurence Boisson Chazournes de, Marcelo G. Kohen and Jorge E. Viñuales (dir.), Diplomatic and Judicial Means of Dispute Settlement, Leiden, Nijhoff, 2013, pp. 281-290.

    Quilleré-Majzoub Fabienne, L’Eau dans tous ses états juridiques. Prospectives hydrauliques internationales, Paris, A. Pedone, coll. “Institut des hautes études internationales de Paris. Cours et travaux”, no. 19, 2017.

    Roman Diane, La Cause des droits. Écologie, progrès social et droits humains, Paris, Dalloz, 2022.

    Tignino Mara, “Water during and after armed conflicts: What protection in international law?”, Brill Research Perspectives in International Water Law, vol. 1, no. 4, 2016, pp. 1-111.

    10.1163/9789004338425 :

    Zeitoun Mark, Reflections. Understanding Our Use and Abuse of Water, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2023.

    10.1093/oso/9780197575123.001.0001 :

    Notes de bas de page

    1 In the aftermath of the International Court of Justice’s decision in the Cameroon-Nigeria Land and Maritime Boundary case (Cameroon v. Nigeria; Equatorial Guinea intervening) of October 10th, 2002, the Greentree Agreement was concluded between the two parties through the good offices of Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations.

    2 Samantha Besson, Reconstructing the International Institutional Order : Inaugural Lecture delivered on Thursday 3 December 2020, Paris, Collège de France, 2021, digital edition: http://books.openedition.org/cdf/12330, paragraph 31.

    3 Bulletin officiel de l’Exposition de Lyon, universelle, internationale et coloniale en 1894, 1st year, no. 6, Thursday, March 23rd 1893, p. 5, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6156602k.

    4 In 1951, World Bank President Eugene Black took the initiative to offer the good offices of the financial institution to India and Pakistan to reach an agreement on the use of the Indus. The process took ten years and various obstacles were encountered, but Black’s efforts paid off.

    5 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on May 21st 1997, and entered into force on August 17th, 2014, article 2.a.

    6 Permanent Court of International Justice, judgment no. 16, case relating to the Territorial jurisdiction of the international Commission of the river Oder, series A, no. 23, 1929.

    7 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, fifteenth meeting, part II, Montreal, Canada, reference CBD/COP/15/L.25, December 7th to 19th 2022.

    8 Unesco’s World Water Assessment Programme: “Groundwater, Making the Invisible Visible”, Paris, Unesco, 2022, p. i.

    9 UN General Assembly Resolution 70/169, “The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation”, December 17th 2015, reference A/RES/70/169, p. 4.

    10 UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1, “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, September 25th 2015, reference A/RES/70/1, SDG no. 6, p. 15.

    11 See, for example, European Court of Human Rights, Tătar v. Romania, no. 67021/01, January 27th 2009; Dubetska and Others v. Ukraine, no. 30499/03, February 10th 2011; id., Dzemyuk v. Ukraine, no. 42488/02, September 4th 2014.

    12 Human Rights Committee, general comment, no. 36, article 6: right to life, reference CCPR/C/GC/36, September 4th 2014, pp. 6-7.

    13 Resolution 2573 by the United Nations Security Council (2021), reference S/RES/2573, April 27th 2021.

    14 Geneva Water Hub Report, “The Geneva List of Principles for the Protection of Water Infrastructure”, Geneva, 2020, https://urlz.fr/oW0S.

    15 International Criminal Court (ICC), The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for the Issuance of a Warrant of Arrest for Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, March 4th 2009, no.oICC-02/05-01/09 (Pre-Trial Chamber I), paragraph 91.

    16 Ibid.

    17 Ibid, paragraph 89.

    18 International Criminal Court (ICC), The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, Second Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest, no. ICC-02/05-01/09-94 (Pre-Trial Chamber I), July 12th 2010, paragraph 38.

    19 Definition quoted from David Zierler, The Invention of Ecocide: Agent Orange, Vietnam, and the Scientists Who Changed The Way We Think About The Environment, Athens, Georgia, The University if Georgia Press, 2011, p. 19.

    20 Stop Ecocide Foundation, “Independent expert panel for the legal definition of ecocide. Commentary and core text”, June 2021, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ca2608ab914493c64ef1f6d/t/60d1e6e604fae2201d03407f/1624368879048/SE+Foundation+Commentary+and+core+text+rev+6.pdf.

    21 Article 8.2(b)(iv) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, concluded in Rome on the July 17th 1998.

    22 Definition quoted from David Zierler, op. cit., p. 19.

    23 Mireille Delmas-Marty, Vers une communauté de valeurs. Les forces imaginantes du droit (IV), Paris, Seuil, 2011, p. 333.

    Auteurs

    • Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
      Guest professor at the Collège de France, Annual Chair of Sustainable Common Future (2022-2023)
    • Pieter Jan Kuijper (trad.)
    • Jason Rudall (trad.)
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    1 In the aftermath of the International Court of Justice’s decision in the Cameroon-Nigeria Land and Maritime Boundary case (Cameroon v. Nigeria; Equatorial Guinea intervening) of October 10th, 2002, the Greentree Agreement was concluded between the two parties through the good offices of Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations.

    2 Samantha Besson, Reconstructing the International Institutional Order : Inaugural Lecture delivered on Thursday 3 December 2020, Paris, Collège de France, 2021, digital edition: http://books.openedition.org/cdf/12330, paragraph 31.

    3 Bulletin officiel de l’Exposition de Lyon, universelle, internationale et coloniale en 1894, 1st year, no. 6, Thursday, March 23rd 1893, p. 5, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6156602k.

    4 In 1951, World Bank President Eugene Black took the initiative to offer the good offices of the financial institution to India and Pakistan to reach an agreement on the use of the Indus. The process took ten years and various obstacles were encountered, but Black’s efforts paid off.

    5 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on May 21st 1997, and entered into force on August 17th, 2014, article 2.a.

    6 Permanent Court of International Justice, judgment no. 16, case relating to the Territorial jurisdiction of the international Commission of the river Oder, series A, no. 23, 1929.

    7 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, fifteenth meeting, part II, Montreal, Canada, reference CBD/COP/15/L.25, December 7th to 19th 2022.

    8 Unesco’s World Water Assessment Programme: “Groundwater, Making the Invisible Visible”, Paris, Unesco, 2022, p. i.

    9 UN General Assembly Resolution 70/169, “The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation”, December 17th 2015, reference A/RES/70/169, p. 4.

    10 UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1, “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, September 25th 2015, reference A/RES/70/1, SDG no. 6, p. 15.

    11 See, for example, European Court of Human Rights, Tătar v. Romania, no. 67021/01, January 27th 2009; Dubetska and Others v. Ukraine, no. 30499/03, February 10th 2011; id., Dzemyuk v. Ukraine, no. 42488/02, September 4th 2014.

    12 Human Rights Committee, general comment, no. 36, article 6: right to life, reference CCPR/C/GC/36, September 4th 2014, pp. 6-7.

    13 Resolution 2573 by the United Nations Security Council (2021), reference S/RES/2573, April 27th 2021.

    14 Geneva Water Hub Report, “The Geneva List of Principles for the Protection of Water Infrastructure”, Geneva, 2020, https://urlz.fr/oW0S.

    15 International Criminal Court (ICC), The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for the Issuance of a Warrant of Arrest for Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, March 4th 2009, no.oICC-02/05-01/09 (Pre-Trial Chamber I), paragraph 91.

    16 Ibid.

    17 Ibid, paragraph 89.

    18 International Criminal Court (ICC), The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, Second Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest, no. ICC-02/05-01/09-94 (Pre-Trial Chamber I), July 12th 2010, paragraph 38.

    19 Definition quoted from David Zierler, The Invention of Ecocide: Agent Orange, Vietnam, and the Scientists Who Changed The Way We Think About The Environment, Athens, Georgia, The University if Georgia Press, 2011, p. 19.

    20 Stop Ecocide Foundation, “Independent expert panel for the legal definition of ecocide. Commentary and core text”, June 2021, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ca2608ab914493c64ef1f6d/t/60d1e6e604fae2201d03407f/1624368879048/SE+Foundation+Commentary+and+core+text+rev+6.pdf.

    21 Article 8.2(b)(iv) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, concluded in Rome on the July 17th 1998.

    22 Definition quoted from David Zierler, op. cit., p. 19.

    23 Mireille Delmas-Marty, Vers une communauté de valeurs. Les forces imaginantes du droit (IV), Paris, Seuil, 2011, p. 333.

    Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality

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    Chazournes, L. B. de. (2024). Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality (P. Kuijper & J. Rudall, Trad.). In Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality (1‑). Collège de France. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cdf.16271
    Chazournes, Laurence Boisson de. « Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality ». In Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality, traduit par Pieter Jan Kuijper et Jason Rudall. Paris: Collège de France, 2024. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cdf.16271.
    Chazournes, Laurence Boisson de. « Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality ». Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality, traduit par Pieter Jan Kuijper et Jason Rudall, Collège de France, 2024, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cdf.16271.

    Référence numérique du livre

    Format

    Boisson de Chazournes, L. (2024). Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality (P. J. Kuijper & J. Rudall, Trad.; 1‑). Collège de France. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cdf.16137
    Boisson de Chazournes, Laurence. Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality. Traduit par Pieter Jan Kuijper et Jason Rudall. Paris: Collège de France, 2024. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cdf.16137.
    Boisson de Chazournes, Laurence. Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality. Traduit par Pieter Jan Kuijper et Jason Rudall, Collège de France, 2024, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cdf.16137.
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