In framework of permanent cooperation with UN bodies our Association sent submission to UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation, Professor Pedro Arrojo-Agudo for his next report on “Democratic water governance under a human rights-based approach”, to be presented at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, in October 2025.
ARC’s submission, prepared by Professor Borys Babin and other experts, reminded UN bodies that in the Crimean peninsula, illegally controlled by Russia, negligence and illegal actions of the so-called “authorities” caused the water crisis, which became a challenge for the region’s rural areas.
Submission stressed that UN General Assembly’s resolution 76/179 pointed that Russia as occupying State bears all responsibility for ongoing water crisis in Crimea and that European Court on Human Rights refused in 2021 to oblige Ukraine supply water to Crimea by the North Crimean Channel.
ARC reminded in the submission the brutal violation of the international environmental law by “Siemens” and “Grundfos” companies that supplied in 2020-2021 industrial water pumps to the Crimean “administration”; such pumps’ exploitation in military purposes destroyed the unique ecosystem of Zuya River valley, traditional for the Crimean Tatars.
ARC reminded in the submission on ecologic problem connected with flooding Yevpatoria town with the waters of Sasyk-Sivash, and on negative changes in Lake Sasyk’s hydrology, including new floods in Crimea’s Saky District and entry of chemical waste from the Saki plant into open watercourses.
ARC stressed in the submission that since February 2022 Russia-controlled troops and mercenaries committed in Ukraine, during the invasion, gross violation of international law already, including broad crimes against environment, attacks on dams, riparian and maritime ecosystems.
ARC reminded to UN Rapporteur on destruction the dam of Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant on Dnipro River by Russian military units, and described the confessions of Sevastopol collaborator, former Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Dr. Sergei Konovalov, published at February 2025, that the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP caused the large-scale environmental disaster for Black Sea.
ARC added in the submission that in World Water Day, 2024, Russian military made missile strike on Dnipro HPP, located on Dnipro River, Zaporizhzhya city trying to destroy Dniprohes Dam and make new disaster with flood and water sources lost.
ARC’s submission called the UN Special Rapporteur, also as all other UN authorized bodies and agencies, to pay a special attention to Russia’s illegal activities in Ukraine, including Russian aggression, war crimes and state terrorism, in framework of global risks for climate and relevant global human rights and sustainable development, including right to food, water and sanitation. Our cooperation with UN bodies on these issues will be continued.
