The World of Water Without Catarina

The three most recent Special Rapporteurs on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation photographed together in 2023. Catarina de Albuquerque (center; 2008-2014), Léo Heller (right; 2014-2020), and Pedro Arrojo-Agudo (left; 2020-present).

On Tuesday 7th October, Catarina de Albuquerque died. She had been fighting cancer for a long time. She was indeed a fighter in everything she did in life. Since her death there has been an avalanche of messages and condolences from everywhere in the world. It is incredible how many people she touched and how many people appreciated her. Many of us were in shock when we heard the news and we have been since then. Working as automats in her last project: the Madrid Ministerial Conference of Sanitation and Water for All on “breaking the silos”.

I had the privilege of walking along with Catarina for part of our professional lives when she was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation from 2010-2014. Her energy and her honesty, her deep knowledge and belief in human rights were so powerful that she attracted masses to her interventions, and she engaged everybody through her work in so many countries of the world. Her work on Sanitation and Water for All was the natural next step after her position as special rapporteur. It allowed her to focus on how to support high level politicians working on water to improve the living conditions of the world’s most vulnerable people. And she did so relentlessly, while still fighting her illness.

While we are still all in shock, I will always cherish the moments I shared with Catarina. The rapid conversations where we discussed our shared views on how to improve the United Nations system to work better in water. Catarina talked fast and lived fast, as if she knew she did not have time to lose.

She created a wave in defense of human rights that will be difficult to stop. We will honor her memory and continue her legacy to protect people and the planet and make this a better world for all.

Josefina Maestu

From the AGWA and WR4ER family
Former Director of the UN Office of the Water for Life Decade 2005-2015