Water and survival in war: Upholding IHL’s protective purpose and documenting the hidden toll

Abstract Water is essential to life, dignity and recovery in armed conflict. Increasingly targeted, manipulated or incidentally damaged, it has become both a casualty and a weapon of war, with impacts that are often undocumented or unattributed. While there are multiple protections for water under international humanitarian law (IHL), legal indeterminacies, operational constraints and weak implementation undermine their effectiveness. This article examines patterns, drivers and types of harm relating to water in armed conflict, including reverberating effects and cumulative impacts, alongside the relevant legal frameworks. It advocates a protective interpretation of IHL and proposes measures including the establishment of a collaborative inter-agency mechanism to link field realities with the law, strengthening civilian protection where survival is at stake.