“The continuous decline in water quality due to increased salinity levels in its composition is alarming. This situation significantly impacts vulnerable groups, such as children and adolescents, pregnant women and people suffering from chronic diseases,” they said in a statement.

Water privatization fears

Although health authorities have urged vulnerable groups to purchase bottled water, “this may create a risk of de facto water privatisation for human consumption,” they warned.

“We recognise the government’s efforts to reduce water taxes. However, measures must be deepened to ensure that all people can access the water necessary for life,” the experts said.

While the government has recommended reducing household water consumption, they said these restrictions do not apply to large-scale consumers, such as industries using water for production.

Uphold human rights

The experts added that the over-exploitation of water, particularly by some industries, is an underlying issue in the overall problem.

“Uruguay must put human consumption at the forefront, as indicated by international human rights standards,” they said.

Experts have been warning for years that the expansion of concessions to water-intensive industries was leading to water pollution and shortages in the country.

“Water for human consumption represents barely five per cent of the total supply of drinking water. Consequently, failure to prioritise its use is unacceptable,” they said.

They recalled that the human right to water implies that supply must be accessible, free of pollutants and managed sustainably,

“Businesses, including state-owned enterprises, have a responsibility to respect human rights at all times, and States have an obligation to ensure the protection of this right by guaranteeing universal access to safe drinking water, even during emergencies,” they added.

About UN rights experts

The five experts who issued the statement were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

They include Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and the members of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

Experts appointed by the Council serve in their individual capacity. They are not UN staff and are not paid for their work.

According to the experts, hundreds of Eritreans were also subjected to summary deportations at the end of June.

“Collective expulsions are prohibited under international law,” the experts, including Mohamed Babiker, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, said in a news release issued by the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

“Deporting migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers without conducting an individual and objective risk assessment of their exposure to human rights violations, including torture and enforced disappearance upon return, is refoulement.”

The principle of non-refoulement, enshrined in the Convention against Torture and other international human rights treaties, guarantees specific protection against all forms of expulsion, regardless of nationality or migration status.

“Immigration detention should be an exceptional measure of last resort, used only for adults, for the shortest period of time and for a legitimate purpose,” the experts said. “It also appears that the authorities are specifically targeting Eritreans, a practice that constitutes discrimination.”

According to data from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), as of the end of May, there were around 165,000 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia, having fled violence and hardship in their country.

Children separated from parents 

The human rights experts said that several cases of separation were reported following the mass deportations, with parents forced back to Eritrea and children left behind in Ethiopia.  

The Human Rights Council-appointed experts also called on Eritrean officials to ensure those forcibly deported are protected, amid report of serious rights violations against them, including torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, trafficking and arbitrary detention.

“We urge the Eritrean authorities to provide information on their fate and whereabouts and to ensure that they can have access to their relatives, lawyers or anyone of their choice,” the experts said, calling on refugee protection organizations in Ethiopia to engage with the Ethiopian authorities to support access to the asylum system and relevant documentation for those on the move.

In addition to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, the experts joining the call included the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances; and the  Working Group on arbitrary detention.

Independent experts

The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.  

The experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations and work on a voluntary basis. They serve in their individual capacity; are not UN staff and do not receive a salary.

That’s the message from UNAIDS, the UN agency dedicated to ending the epidemic, which said on Thursday that truly eradicating it boils down to a “political and financial choice”. 

The agency’s Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, said that today’s leaders have the opportunity to save millions of lives and be “remembered by future generations” as those who put a stop to the world’s deadliest pandemic.

‘Show what leadership can do’

“They could save millions of lives and protect the health of everyone. They could show what leadership can do”, she said. 

According to a new UNAIDS report, Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe have already achieved what is known as the “95-95-95” targets: 95 per cent of the people who are living with HIV know their status, 95 per cent of those who know that they are living with HIV are on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95 per cent of people in treatment are virally suppressed. 

Steady progress

Progress has been strongest in the countries and regions that have spent most on tackling HIV/AIDS such as in eastern and southern Africa, where new HIV infections have been reduced by 57 per cent since 2010.

Following support and investment to end AIDS among children, 82 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV globally were able to access antiretroviral treatment last year – up from 46 per cent in 2010.

New infections among children have fallen by 58 per cent during the same period, the lowest number since the 1980s, UNAIDS reported.

Progress has also been bolstered by ensuring legal and policy frameworks do not undermine human rights, but rather enable and protect them. Countries have continued to rollback harmful laws. In the past two years, Antigua and Barbuda, the Cook Islands, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Singapore, have all decriminalized same-sex relations.

The number of people on antiretroviral treatment worldwide rose nearly fourfold, from 7.7 million in 2010 to 29.8 million in 2022.

A life a minute

But there is still a long way to go to meet the aspiration of ending AIDS by 2030. AIDS claimed a life every minute last year, said the UN agency, and some 9.2 million people still miss out on treatment, including 660,000 children living with HIV.

Women and girls continue to suffer disproportionately, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Around 4,000 young women and girls became infected with HIV each week in 2022. 

Getting sufficient funding to meet the challenge is also proving hard, with an overall decline last year from both domestic and international sources. Funding amounted to $20.8 billion, far short of the $29.3 billion needed by 2025.

Cautious optimism

“We are hopeful but it is not the relaxed optimism that might come if all was heading as it should be”, said Ms. Byanyima. “It is, instead, a hope rooted in seeing the opportunity for success, an opportunity that is dependent on action”.

“The facts and figures shared in this report do not show that as a world we are already on the path, they show that we can be. The way is clear.”

The victims, who included members of the Masalit ethnic community, were allegedly killed last month by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militia, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said, citing credible information.

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies in a mass grave outside the regional capital, El-Geneina , denying those killed a decent burial in one of the city’s cemeteries.

Mr. Türk condemned the killings in the strongest terms and called for those responsible to be held to account.

Women and children killed

The RSF and the Sudanese army have been locked in fierce fighting since mid-April. Thousands have been killed and injured, and nearly three million people are displaced both within and outside the country.

At least 37 of the bodies were buried on 20 June in the roughly one-metre-deep mass grave in an open area called Al-Turab Al Ahmar, or Red Soil in English.

Another 50 bodies were buried there the following day, including those of seven women and seven children.

Those buried were killed by the RSF and their allied militia during the period 13 to 21 June in the districts of Al-Madaress and Al-Jamarek, located in El-Geneina, according to credible information gathered by OHCHR.

Many were victims of the violence that followed the killing of the Governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abbaker, on 14 June, shortly after he was taken into custody by the RSF. Others had died from untreated injuries.

Disrespecting the dead

The UN rights chief said he was “appalled by the callous and disrespectful way the dead, along with their families and communities, were treated.”

“There must be a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the killings, and those responsible must be held to account,” he said.

Mr. Türk called on the RSF and other parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate searches for the dead, their collection and evacuation, in line with international law and regardless of ethnicity or other distinction.

Bodies lying in the streets

OHCHR said witnesses report that local mediation efforts for access to and burial of the dead have generally taken too long, leaving many bodies lying in the streets for days.  

The family of a Masalit dignitary who was killed on or around 9 June by the RSF and their allies, reportedly had to wait 13 days before being allowed to collect the body.

Witnesses told staff that in cases where the RSF have allowed the collection of the dead, following mediation with Arab and other community leaders, they have refused to allow those injured to be taken to hospitals for medical treatment.

Ensure injured receive care

“The RSF’s leadership and their allied militia as well as all parties to an armed conflict are required to ensure that the dead are properly handled, and their dignity protected,” Mr. Türk said.

Furthermore, international humanitarian and international human rights law require all warring parties to ensure the injured receive medical care.

The High Commissioner called on the RSF leadership immediately and unequivocally to condemn and stop the killing of people, and to end violence and hate speech based on ethnicity.