Hotels and the human right to water: Prospect and challenges in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This study examines how the use of water by the tourism industry affects local communities, within the Yogyakarta region of Java, Indonesia as a case study. This study takes into account the business and human rights (to water) framework. Such a framework encompasses the regulatory-legislative framework; the Human Right to Water Impact Assessment; the importance of monitoring, evaluation and disclosure of water use and its impacts; and community participation. The primary data for this research were acquired from participants using semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and focus groups. Research participants are hoteliers, government agency staff, Yogyakarta residents including those directly impacted from hotels’ water use, concerned outsiders, academics, and non-government organizations. As a strategy of inquiry, the participatory action approach was utilized. The underlying idea of this approach is to make use of the research for participants collaboratively. In this study, I collaborated with a key organization that represents community voices. This collaboration is intended not just to include the participant as the investigated, but also to support their cause. This study is also a socio-legal study by virtue of scrutinizing the interplay between law in books and law in action using a qualitative approach. It seeks to derive insights into the responsibility of hotels to respect the human right to water beyond legal text by addressing the operation and enforcement of laws captured in the empirical investigation. By doing so, this study provides evidence that suggests that for hotels to respect the human right to water is not straightforward. Such identification emphasizes the polycentricity of the business and human rights approach that requires strong checks and balances between the adequacy of state law, corporate codes of conduct, as well as civil society capacity to meaningfully participate in relation to water governance. In addition, in the Yogyakarta context, technical and detailed guidance is needed for hoteliers to transform their water management, but that law and legal compliance mechanism are equally necessary and urgent. As such, this thesis proposes several future actions that can be pursued to bring about a better situation for Yogyakarta and its residents. Finally, I outline the opportunities presented by this research for further studies