Women’s Human Rights to Water, Food and a Healthy Environment

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law examines the disproportionate negative impacts of large-scale development projects—such as dams and mines—on women's human rights to water, food, and a healthy environment. It highlights the gap between international legal instruments and their practical implementation, particularly in countries with weak governance, and provides recommendations for governments, companies, and civil society to protect women's land rights and ensure their participation in decision-making.

• Large-scale development projects, including mines, dams, and land conversion, disproportionately harm women by forcing them onto less productive marginal land, increasing the distance they must travel for water and fuel, and excluding them from land compensation negotiations, which are typically conducted only with male heads of household. Additionally, women and girls face rampant sexual harassment and intimidation at industrial mining sites.
• Despite the inclusion of rights to water, food, and a healthy environment in international instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, these rights are rarely implemented. This failure is most evident in states that rely on natural resource exports and have weak governance structures.
• Women face significant barriers when seeking justice for human rights violations, including a lack of clarity regarding their rights, financial burdens, and repeated inadmissibility rulings. Furthermore, there is a dangerous increase in harassment, violent attacks, and assassinations of human rights defenders.
• The document details specific outcomes of the 'Upholding human rights: bridging the gender-environments divide (2014–2017)' project: in South Africa, women in Mpumalanga and Free State filed two legal claims against mining companies; in Kenya, Ngaaie community women halted operations by Athi River Mining (ARM) Limited through legal action; and in India, the project supported over a thousand Forest Rights Act claims, resulting in land titles for 120 single women in 2017 and halting evictions in a Tiger Reserve area in Panna district.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2017). Women’s Human Rights to Water, Food and a Healthy Environment. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Womens-Human-Rights-to-Water-Food-and-a-Healthy-Environment.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Women’s Human Rights to Water, Food and a Healthy Environment. 2017. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Womens-Human-Rights-to-Water-Food-and-a-Healthy-Environment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Women’s Human Rights to Water, Food and a Healthy Environment |date=2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Womens-Human-Rights-to-Water-Food-and-a-Healthy-Environment.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2017womens, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Women’s Human Rights to Water, Food and a Healthy Environment}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Womens-Human-Rights-to-Water-Food-and-a-Healthy-Environment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }