Compliance Committee

The Compliance Committee under the Protocol on Water and Health was established in 2007, in accordance with article 15 of the Protocol on review of compliance (see decision 1/2 on review of compliance (ENG FRE RUS) and the rules of procedure of the Committee).

The objective of the compliance procedure is to facilitate, promote and aim to secure compliance with the obligations under the Protocol, with a view to preventing disputes.

Functions of the Committee

The Committee has the following functions:

Consider any submission by Parties, referral from the secretariat or communication from the public relating to specific issues of compliance;

Prepare, at the request of the Meeting of the Parties, a report on compliance with or implementation of specific provisions of the Protocol; and

Monitor, assess and facilitate the implementation of and compliance with the reporting requirements under article 7, paragraph 5, of the Protocol.

The Committee may examine compliance issues and make recommendations or take measures if and as appropriate.

Consultation Process

The first reporting exercise under the Protocol conducted in 2009-2010 showed that a number of Parties were facing difficulties in implementing the Protocol, in particular with its core obligation to set targets and target dates. To respond to this situation, the Compliance Committee decided to enhance its facilitation and assistance functions, and agreed to enter into consultations with Parties. See the Terms of Reference of the Consultation Process for more information.

In the framework of the Consultation Process, the Committee:

Assists Parties in developing an accurate analysis of their situation with water and health (enabling them to set targets under the Protocol)
Provides recommendations to the Parties on how to improve their situation with water and health
Assists Parties in seeking support from donors, specialized agencies and other competent bodies

Consultations do not have an inquisitive nature and may be initiated by a request from a Party or an invitation from the Committee. Sessions can be held in confidence, if so requested.

Compliance Commitee members

The following persons serve on the Committee in a personal capacity following the sixth session of the Meeting of the Parties held in November 2022:

Mr. Jorge Viñuales (nominated by Switzerland)

Mr. Jorge E. Viñuales holds the Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge and is the Director of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG). He is also Of Counsel with LALIVE. Prior to joining Cambridge, he was the Pictet Chair of International Environmental Law at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, where he keeps a limited affiliation as Adjunct Professor of Public International Law. In 2016, he was elected Director-General of the Latin-American Society of International Law. Mr. Viñuales has also wide experience as a practitioner. He has worked on many cases under ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC or LCIA rules, including several high profile inter-State, investor-State, and commercial disputes, and he regularly advises companies, governments, international organizations or major NGOs on different matters of environmental law, investment law, human rights, maritime delimitation and public international law at large.

Ms. Ildiko Bodgal (nominated by Hungary)

Ms. Bodgal currently serves as the Head of unit of the Department for European Health, Social and Educational Affairs, and is responsible for the harmonization of international and EU law in the field of health regulation, social protection and public education. The unit is involved in drafting legislative proposals and takes part in national reporting projects on the implementation of international legal instruments. It also deals with infringement procedures of the European Commission and preliminary rulings of the European Court of Justice.

Ms. Bodgal further has experience as a government delegate, being involved in several EU expert Committees and other relevant work.

She holds a Doctor of Laws from Szeged University and a Master’s degree in International Relations and Affairs from Corvinus University of Budapest on Economic Sciences.

Mr. Gian Luca Burci (nominated by Norway)

Mr. Burci is an Adjunct Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), teaching courses on global health law; the law and practice of international organizations; the law and practice of the United Nations and global health diplomacy. He is also academic adviser to the Global Health Centre at IHEID, Director of the LLM in Global Health Governance at IHEID and Georgetown University Law Center, and Senior Scholar and Visiting Professor at the O’Neill Center for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown School of Law.

In addition to his academic positions, Mr. Burci has extensive experience within the United Nations Systems and has served within the Office of the Legal Counsel for the World Health Organization from 1998 to 2016, serving as the WHO Legal Counsel from 2005 to 2016.

Mr. Burci holds a Doctor in Law from the University of Geneva.

Ms. Ingrid Chorus (nominated by Germany)

Ms. Ingrid Chorus has wide experience in the field of hygiene of water for human consumption and its safety in terms of public health. She currently works as an international consultant on toxic cyanobacterial management, including for the World Health Organization. Prior to that, she served as the Head of Division for Drinking-Water and Swimming-Pool Hygiene and the Head of Section for Drinking-water Resources and Treatment at the Federal Environmental Agency of Germany. She is also member of various scientific societies.

Ms. Chorus holds a degree in Biology from the Free University, Berlin. Her research fields include risk-based approaches to managing drinking-water and water used for recreation; resource management and lake restoration; cyanobacterial toxins; algal metabolites; elimination of pathogens and substances through underground filtration.

Mr. Antonio Pedro de Nobre Carmona Rodrigues (nominated by Portugal)

Mr. Carmona Rodrigues has 40 years of experience in the water sector. He worked as a professor at NOVA University in Lisbon, teaching courses in the areas of hydraulics, hydrology, water resources planning and management, water quality modelling and publishing extensively in national and foreign journals. In addition to the academic career, Mr. Carmona Rodrigues has held several public functions at national and local level, serving as advisor to the Secretary of State for the Environment and Natural Resources, Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing, and Mayor of Lisbon.

Mr. Carmona Rodrigues holds a degree in Hydraulic Engineering from the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, and a PHD in Environmental Engineering from the NOVA University, Lisbon.

Ms. Gunel Gurbanova (nominated by Azerbaijan)

Ms. Gurbanova is a senior biologist at “AzeLab LLC”, within the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. She has experience in the fields of biological monitoring and holds a degree in Chemistry and Biology from Sumgayit State University, Azerbaijan, as well as a master’s degree in human and animal physiology from Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. Ms. Gurbanova is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Protection from the Azerbaijan Research Institute of Crop Husbandry.

Mr. Morten Nicholls (nominated by Norway)

Mr. Morten Nicholls has been working within the field water resource management since 1980. This has included watercourse regulations, watercourse monitoring, land use management, authority control of discharges to water and lately drinking water management at national level. He has then also been drawing up national plans and national regulations in these areas. In recent years, efforts in order to implement the EU framework directive for water and the EU drinking water directive have been central to his work. Morten Nicholls has also had primary responsibility for drawing up the national targets set by Norway for the Protocol on Water and Health. He has now retired after 20 years at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

Ms. Anna Tsvietkova (nominated by Ukraine)

Ms. Anna Tsvietkova is a WASH expert at the NGO “Global water Partnership–Ukraine”. The last 20 years she worked for Ukrainian National Environmental NGO “MAMA-86” as Water Program Coordinator and represented NGOs in deferent national (interagency working group on Protocol implementation in Ukraine, the Upper and Middle Dnieper River Basin Councils), and international coordination bodies (European ECO-Forum Water Issue Group, Water Supply &Sanitation Collaborative Council, GWP Central Eastern Europe Regional Council, Public Participation Expert Group of ICPDR. Her main areas of expertise are public access to information, participation in decision making, implementation and progress evaluation at local-national levels; introduction of the best WASH practices in rural and urban areas; school WASH and WASH in emergency (military conflict); public participation in the Protocol implementation (baseline analysis, national targets setting/revision, reporting, equitable access to water and sanitation self-assessment, water and sanitation safety planning); WASH for all advocacy; IWRM -drafting RBMPs; the Ukrainian water legislation. She holds university degree in biochemistry and physiology of plants (Taras Shevchenko National University, Kyiv, 1982).

Mr. Sergei Vinogradov (nominated by Germany)

Dr Sergei Vinogradov (LLB, PhD Moscow State University) is working in the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK.
He is also a visiting Professor of the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies of the Wuhan University and the MGIMO-University (Moscow).

His main areas of expertise include international law of natural resources, international water law, law of the sea and environmental law. Dr Vinogradov has published extensively on issues related to transboundary watercourses, environmental regulation of petroleum activities, cross-border pipelines, and protection of the marine environment. He is a member of the International Council of Environmental Law and Commission on Environmental Law of the IUCN/World Conservation Union. He has been involved as a legal consultant in numerous international projects and activities under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia, OSCE, UNESCO, UNEP, UNDP/GEF, EU, and the World Bank

Dr Vinogradov participated in drafting and negotiating international agreements, such as the ECT Draft Transit Protocol, agreements on land-based pollution for the Black and Caspian seas, rivers Dniester, Kura, and other transboundary basins. Dr Vinogradov provided legal advice to the Mekong River Commission, International Fund for the Aral Sea, national governments and development agencies operating mostly in developing and transition economy countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Central and South-East Asia, and Africa.

Twenty-fifth meeting (2 July 2024)

Twenty-fourth meeting (5 June 2023)

Twenty-third meeting (7 June 2022)

Twenty-second meeting (16 November 2021)

Twenty-first meeting (15-16 June 2021)

Twentieth meeting (2 November 2020)

Nineteenth meeting (15 May 2020)

Eighteenth meeting (1-2 July 2019)

Seventeenth meeting (5-6 November 2018)

Sixteenth meeting (6-7 March 2018, Geneva)

Fifteenth meeting (13-14 November 2017, Geneva)

Fourteenth meeting (13-14 March 2017, Geneva)