A Water Tribunal will be held on 10-11 March and 14 March 2009 in Istanbul with the support of the Tribunal Latinoamericano del Agua (Latin American Water Tribunal-LAWT) and Heinrich Böll Stiftung.  

"Water has become increasingly a commercial entity" said Ulrike Dufner of Heinrich Böll at a press conference held today.

"Dams and other such projects harm people's right to water. The aim of this tribunal is to promote human-rights based solutions to these problems."

"This is a global humanitarian issue and we wish to renders sustainable solutions" Javier Bogantes of the LAWT.

Tukey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Energy Hilmi Güler, Minister of Environment Veysel Eroğlu and General Director of State Water Works head Haydar Koçaker will be among the 17 defendants.

Four different cases are planned for review in the meeting, three from Turkey and one from Latin America. A jury panel of seven people will assess the cases. On the last day of the tribunal, 14 March, the jury will make its verdict public.

The jury panel includes actress Pelin Batu, academic Emel Kurma, NGO representative Dilek Kurban, Mexican academic David Barkin, Brazilian prosecutor Alexandre Camanho de Assis, German publisher Silke Helfrich and Dutch political advisor Maurits Groen.

According to the report published in June 2008 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) under the title “Climate Change and Water”, 2 billion people will live deprived of water in the year 2050 and 3 billion in 2080.

"This is simply an indicator of the fact that unless sustainable solutions are devised, water-based conflicts will multiply and become increasingly violent."

The objective of the tribunal is to contribute to the resolution of water-related conflicts, which can't be solved within the current legal framework. Activists invite political decision makers to generate solutions in this domain by drawing the public's attention to this area.

Tribunal Latinoamericano del Agua is an autonomous, independent and international organization based in Costa Rica. The tribunal determines whether there is an infringement of rights in projects generally on the basis of an evaluation of the said projects under the provisions of national and international legislation or contracts.(BÇ/AGÜ)