Upreti, Trilochan, International Watercourses Law and Its Application ...

Equitable Utilisation / 167 168 / International Watercourses Law and Its Application in South Asiautilisation must not cause any harm to other co-riparian states.With few exceptions state practice, treaty regimes and judicialpronouncements all suggest that the right to use waters in one’sown territory is restricted and conditional in the sense thatstates must first fulfil their obligation. 205 This constitutes statepractice and opnio juris sufficient to make it customaryinternational law.3.11 Water as a Political WeaponWater has been used as a political weapon in order to advanceinterests of individual states on numerous occasions. As hasbeen seen, Egypt has shown its interest in allowing Israelaccess to waters of the Nile so as to resolve the Palestineproblem and liberate Jerusalem from Israeli rule for political,religious and cultural reasons. Israel objected to this offer bystating that it was not ready to trade Jerusalem for Egyptianwater. 206 Jordan recognised the Israeli rights to the Jordan Riverwaters in return for the latter acquiescing in Jordan’sprocurement of American weapons. 207 Syria withdrew itssupport to the Kurds fighting inside Turkey in lieu ofuninterrupted flow of the waters of common rivers. 208Bangladesh allowed India use of shared waters in return forIndia denying support for guerrillas who were carrying out205 M. Picasso Botto, "The Amazon Cooperation Treaty: A Mechanism forCooperation and Sustainable Development" in A. K. Biswas, N.Cordero Benedito, P.F. Brague & C. Tortagdu (eds) in Management ofLatin American River Basin: Amazon, Plata, and Sao Francisco,Oxford: Oxford University, 1996, pp. 86-93 & 120-121. TheTennessee, Loire, Ganges, Mekong, Zambezi, Plata, and Amazon riverbasins works were carried out in the similar way.206 Supra note 13, p. 57.207 Ibid. p. 49.208 M. Murakami, Managing Water for Peace in the Middle East:Alternative Strategies, Tokyo: United Nations University, 1995, p. 23.attacks on Bangladesh from India. 209 Turkey has proposed anambitious, complex and mammoth water transfer project fromthe Sehan and Ceyhan rivers to several Arab countries, in orderto solve their acute water shortage problems by transportingwater through a pipeline across thousands of kilometres. If thisproposal succeeds, Turkey will have a dominant position in theMiddle East (ME). 210 The proposed Fraser River Diversion inthe Columbia Basin by Canada compelled the USA to agree onthe downstream issues raised earlier, which led to theconclusion of the Columbia Treaty 1961. 211Peter Glecik, an expert on water and conflict, has suggestedthat water has played a role in international conflict in history,and will in the future too. He talks about 'war against nature'rather than calling it “war caused by water related disputes.” 212It is also increasingly argued that the availability of fresh waterhas become a part of human rights, because water, like oxygen,is a primary need of human beings for their existence. 213 Theright to water and its linkage with human rights has beenwidely discussed and recognised as a basic human right, and is209 Supra note 49 (Crow), pp. 122-123.210 Supra note 14, p. 78-79: Turkish President Ozal in 1987 suggested thata pipeline could be constructed in the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers in thesouthern Turkey to deliver water to Sharjah in UAE and to Jeddaha onthe Red sea. Such a pipeline would carry 3.5 thousand metres per day.The estimated cost of this has been put at US$ 20 billion. A secondsuggestion, made public in 1991 was that a mini-pipeline be built as faras Jordan; using the waters of the Goksu or Manaugat rivers west ofthe Sayhan and Ceyhan rivers.211 R. W. Johnson, "the Columbia Basin" in A.H. Garretson, et.al (eds),The Law of International Drainage Basins, New York: Ocena Pub.,1967, pp. 205-210.212 http://www.worldwaterforum.org/index2.html.213 Ibid. It was discussed by the World Water forum 2002 that a waterright is human right and international law should treat it in this sense.See S. McCaffrey, “A Human Right to Water: Domestic andInternational Implications” (1992) in 5 GIELR, pp. 1-23.