The triennial World Water Forum is being held in Bali this week. The event is organised by the World Water Council, a private, for-profit organisation, traditionally supported by the World Bank, and aims to promote a market-driven approach to all water issues. The potential benefits to be gained from water are enormous.
PSI and EPSU are members of regional and global water justice networks that resist the privatization of water resources and services. We are holding a conference alongside the World Water Forum event to voice our concerns about the promotion of for-profit policies. We are organized as the People's Water Forum (PWF).
The Indonesian government, no doubt inspired by the concerns of the World Water Council, deployed a full range of repressive measures to prevent the regional and global water justice movements from responding. In doing so, the government succeeded in drawing more attention to the existence and concerns of our movement.
Unfortunately, these repressive acts are replicated by governments around the world in an attempt to silence debate and dissent. Either way, we will not be silenced or paralyzed.
Specific actions by the Indonesian Government include:
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Border patrol and intelligence officials are questioning all foreign members traveling to PWF. The intelligence agencies know who we are and are very well informed. The World Water Council and its allies also know who we are. Wherever possible, travel visas have been delayed and denied.
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Intelligence agents visited homes and intimidated university officials to force them to cancel all PWF meetings and guesthouse facilities scheduled on campus. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology ultimately told universities to cancel their events or postpone them until after the World Water Forum.[i]
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As the PWF meeting began, a paramilitary group known as Patriot Garuda Nusantara (PGN) invaded the press conference hall, having located the meeting venue and accommodation, violently tore down banners and turned off the electricity in the conference room. effectively blocking the press conference.
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This same group invaded a hotel where 40 Indonesian social movement organizations were staying, imprisoning them on the premises and cutting off all access, including food deliveries. When Pedro Arrojo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights issue of safe drinking water and sanitation, arrived at the hotel, he was greeted by a cordon of police. When Pedro showed his UN passport, the police cordon commander directed him to speak to someone believed to be from the PGN group. Mr. Pedro was refused entry and forced from the hotel grounds, which had been effectively sealed off.
Danny BertossaThe PSI Secretary General said:
“On behalf of 700 trade unions representing over 30 million men and women working in all public services in over 150 countries, I believe that the Indonesian and Bali governments have conspired to suppress the fundamental human rights of freedom of speech and assembly. We are all outraged that the fight for the human right to water is a fight for life, democracy, climate justice, dignity and equality. We will not stand idly by as attempts are made to tighten control over our democratic institutions and our communities.”
Jan Willem GudorianThe EPSU Secretary General said:
“The fact that the Indonesian government has failed to protect the UN rapporteur on the human right to water is an international scandal. Ten years ago, nearly 2 million Europeans supported the human right to water at the first European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), and Mr. Arrojo was a member of the ECI Citizens' Committee. , has a long track record of peacefully promoting the human right to water, and the EU and the international community to protect the rights of assembly and expression of local and international water activists in Indonesia and elsewhere. We must act.”
[i] See the statement from Indonesian academics: https://thepeopleswaterforum.org/2024/05/20/academics-denounce-attempts-to-shut-down-the-peoples-water-forum-2024-in-bali-indonesia/
