Water and Security in the focus of the UN and the SCO

Geneva, July 3, 2024 – In his remarks during the meeting of the Group of Friends on Water and Peace dedicated to the issues of ensuring water security during armed conflicts, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN in Geneva Yerlan Alimbayev noted the risks associated with regional security and water infrastructure in Central Asia, and emphasized the prospects for strengthening cooperation in this area with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), which Kazakhstan is chairing in 2024.

"Today the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Astana to participate in the SCO summit, which will be chaired by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The outcomes of this summit will shape the future dynamics in the region, including in peace, security and water. Kazakhstan, as the chair of the SCO, IFAS and a number of other regional structures, is ready to facilitate dialogue and collaboration in order to advance the water and peace agenda,” the Kazakh diplomat noted.

During the event, heads of the Permanent Missions of the UN Member States and international experts discussed the problems of safeguarding the human rights related to access to water resources and learned about the major areas of work of the Global Alliance to Spare Water from Armed Conflicts, an informal multi-partner platform aimed at raising awareness about the norms of international law in this area.

For reference: Group of Friends on Water and Peace, comprising approximately forty countries, represented by their Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva. The Group convenes on a regular basis to deliberate on the issue and strategize ways to advance this critical topic on the global agenda, with the Geneva Water Hub serving as its Secretariat. The Group serves as an open and informal platform, providing representatives from interested countries with a space for dialogue, outreach, engagement, and dissemination among the broader international community. Membership in the Group of Friends on Water and Peace is open-ended.