Water for peace in the Hodh Chargui: a new video with UNHCR Mauritania

In Mauritania's Hodh Chargui region, the people fleeing war in the Sahel will soon be as numerous as those who welcome them. What holds this fragile balance together? Water  and the way communities choose to share it.

A few days ago, the world marked World Refugee Day, this year coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. A moment to remember the life force of those whom war has set on the road, and the values of those who open a door to them.

Hannah Arendt captured it in 1943, in We Refugees:

"Refugees driven from country to country represent the vanguard of their peoples — if they keep their identity. […] The fellowship of European nations broke down when, and precisely because, it allowed its weakest member to be excluded and persecuted."

Words that resonate all the more today, now that we no longer hear the concert of nations.

In the arid land of Hodh Chargui, community solidarity, the goodwill of local authorities, and the sharing of water command deep respect. To preserve that social cohesion, we believe two things matter: strengthening the deliberative mechanisms around water points, and drawing on local know-how in conflict prevention.

That is the purpose of the water-point participatory action-research we carried out with our partners, and of our work alongside UNHCR.

In this new video from UNHCR Mauritania, our Scientific Director Mara Tignino, a specialist in the legal protection of water, reflects on her own personal history with refugees.

▶ Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irJgU-Y2nNE

📄 Read the water-point diagnostic (October 2025): https://www.genevawaterhub.org/sites/default/files/document/Rapport%20FINAL-Diagnostic%20Points%20Eau%20HeC%20-%20octobre%202025.pdf