Objective/Context:

In recent years, decreasing water availability, accessibility, and quality in the Upper and Middle Guajira has led to the death of thousands of Wayúu people. This has been caused by precipitation deficit and droughts and hydro-colonization by mining and hydropower projects. This study assesses the effectiveness of the Wayúu's legal mobilization to redress the widespread violation of their fundamental rights on the basis of the enforceability and justiciability of the human right to water.

Methodology:

The study assesses the effects of the Wayúu's legal mobilization by following the methodological approach proposed by Siri Gloppen, which addresses lawfare from below strategies from two dimensions: in the narrow sense of winning cases in courts, and in the broader sense of changing public policies, strengthening social protest and placing a social problem at the center of public debates.

Conclusions:

The effects of the Wayúu's legal mobilization paint a mixed picture: largely successful with regard to court responses, but largely unsuccessful in terms of government implementation of court decisions. Even if the Wayúu's legal mobilization has brought about public policy changes, the measures adopted have been insufficient and many Wayúu children are dying through reduced water availability, accessibility, and quality. However, strategic alliances forged by the Wayúu have opened a window of opportunity to redress the situation: the declaration of the unconstitutional state of affairs by the Constitutional Court.

Originality:

The study of the enforceability and justiciability of the human right to water from the conceptualization of lawfare proposed by Siri Gloppen, which enables a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of legal mobilizations.

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