Basra is Thirsty

Summary For almost 30 years, including during the period of occupation by the US- and UK-led Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraqi authorities have failed to properly manage and regulate Iraq’s water resources, depriving the people in Iraq’s southern Basra governorate—a population of roughly 4 million—of their right to safe drinking water. Basra’s primary water sources are the Shatt al-Arab river and its freshwater canals. But multiple government failures since the 1980s, including poor management of upstream sources, inadequate regulation of pollution and sewage, and chronic neglect and mismanagement…

© Human Rights Watch - lundi 22 juillet 2019