The IRC call was made in the plenary session of the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, with the participation of 23,000 delegates, a UN spokesperson in the New York UN headquarters reported.

The Red Cross also asked participants to protect sanitary systems in times of war.

"Water, sewage and electrical power systems, along with medical facilities, are usually the first things to be disrupted when a war breaks out," Robert Mardini, head of the ICRC's water and habitat unit, said in a written statement.

Quoted by a UN spokesperson, Mardini said that 15 percent of the 2.6 billion without access to proper sanitation, are in war-torn countries.

The Fifth World Water Forum opens in Istanbul Monday, bringing together an expected 20,000 people from 107 countries, among them government officials, business people and civic groups, who will discuss themes associated with water until March 22.

Access to water and health services quality are among the Millennium Development Goals set down by the UN to be reached no later than 2015.