The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has been asked to provide a report regarding the Human Right to Water (HRTW) to the Human Rights Council. Bearing in mind the importance of a strong report from that office, several civil society organizations put forward several points that should be taken into account in the report.

Submission to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - April 2007

For inclusion in report to be delivered on the right to water for the 6th Session of the Human Rights Council

To Madame Louise Arbour,

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,

Dear Madame High Commissioner,

We are encouraged that you have been asked to provide a report regarding the Human Right to Water (HRTW); to the Human Rights Council. Lack of access to clean water for hygiene and personal use is at a critical stage in many parts of the world. The growing crisis will be intensified by the sweeping effects of climate change. The continuing lack of access to basic sanitation for over half the world’s people continues to lead to fatal disease and a lack of dignity. The time for action on both water and sanitation is well upon us.

A strong report from your office, pointing towards mechanisms for implementation of the human right to water and highlighting the importance of a rights-based approach in dealing with the water crisis, will have a major impact; both in how we interact with water and on future policy decisions of states and the international community.

The depth of the crisis cannot be overstated, Millions die needlessly and billions struggle daily with water scarcity and disease, loss of dignity and suffering that accompanies this avoidable scourge.

Governments have not invested the necessary political and financial resources to address this issue adequately, and the impacts are devastating. Strong and unambiguous affirmation of the HRTW may alleviate this deplorable lack of attention.

We hope your work complements that of the many organizations and activists around the world who continue the fight for water justice and sustainable solutions.

We, the undersigned international networks, civil society organizations and social movements, representing people from all corners of the world, coming from movements focused upon environmental, women’s, labour, social justice, human rights, peasant and other struggles, bring the following points forward for consideration in your upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council.

We assert that the HRTW exists through its implicit and explicit recognition in international treaties, declarations and customary law which bind all governments. It is engendered in several existing human rights instruments as a binding obligation on the Parties. Nevertheless, the failure of the existing instruments to deal with the HRTW explicitly and directly, has allowed several nations to incorrectly deny that such an obligation exists – underscoring the need for a new instrument. Your study and recommendations must provide the impetus for moving toward such a new instrument.

We request that all states move beyond simple recognition of the HRTW and develop comprehensive national plans to implement the HRTW, including making this right justiciable through appropriate national legislation.

We support General Comment 15, approved by the UN Economic and Social Council (November 2002), in which water is seen as ‘indispensable for leading a life in human dignity’ and a ‘prerequisite for the realization of other human rights’. While General Comment 15 is a welcome and necessary step forward, it is not sufficient, in and of itself, to deal with the need for a new legally-binding instrument which will form the basis for moving towards implementation and full realization of the HRTW.

We urge the UN, through the Human Rights Council, to designate an appropriate UN administrative body to ensure, at all levels, adequate laws, policies, institutions, administrative procedures and practices and mechanisms of redress required realize the HRTW. These measures must be based on determined benchmarks to assess progress.

We understand that while governments remain the primary duty-bearers, non-state actors (including transnational corporations and international financial institutions) have been playing an increasingly powerful role in water; there have been resultant violations of the HRTW emanating from market-based approaches to water management. We therefore affirm that that all entities, public and private, must be held accountable to comply with the requirements of international law concerning the HRTW and subject to mechanisms providing appropriate redress and compensation to those harmed.

We assert that there can be no HRTW without comprehensive protection of the planet’s ecosystem and hydrological cycle; linked to the HRTW is the right of all living things, and the earth, to have access to sufficient water; water is part of the global commons and a public trust, any international agreements on the HRTW must address these issues of environmental protection, sustainability and public control.

Finally, we call upon the Human Rights Council, as steps towards achieving these goals, to appoint a Special Rapporteur on Water and to move rapidly towards adoption of strong guidelines for states to follow in the implementation of the HRTW; each of which is a necessary condition towards the necessary implementation of an International Convention on the Human Right to Water.


Signed:

Organization
African Water Network
Blue Planet Project
Center on Housing Rights and Evictions COHRE
Diverse Women for Diversity
Ecumenical Water Network
International Forum on Globalization IFG
International Peoples Health Council (South Asian Focal Point )
Jubilee South-Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS-APMDD)
Public Services International
Jubilee South Americas
Friends of the Earth International - IFI program
Lake Victoria NGOs Advocacy Network - East Africa (LAVNET - EA)
Citizen News Service
Federacao dos Sindicatos da Administracao Publica Saude e Servicos (FSAPSS) -Angola
Sindicato Nacional Independente dos Trabalhadores de Funcao (SNITSSFP)- Angola
Instituto internacional de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo- IIED - Argentina
BanglaPraxis - Bangladesh
Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida - Bolivia
Federacion de Trabajadores Fabriles de Cochabamba - Bolivia
Fundacion Abril - Bolivia
Fundacion Solon - Bolivia
Movimiento Boliviano por la Soberanía y la Integración Solidaria de los Pueblos - Bolivia
Botswana Cicil Servants Association (BCSA) - Botswana
Botswana Unified Local Government Services Association (BULGSA) - Botswana
National Amalgamated Local and Central Government & Parastatal Manual Workers Union (NALGCPMWU) - Botswana
ORCADE - Burkina Faso
Association Pour la Defense des Consommateurs (APDC) - Cameroon
Canadian Auto Workers Local 27 - Canada
Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace - Canada
Canadian Union of Public Employees - Canada
Common Frontiers - Canada
Council of Canadians - Canada
Friends of the Earth Canada - Canada
KAIROS - Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives - Canada
Manitoba Wildlands - Canada
Niagara Chapter Council of Canadians - Canada
Parksville/Qualicum KAIROS - Canada
Planetary Association for Clean Energy - Canada
Polaris Institute - Canada
Public Service Alliance of Canada - Alliance de la Fonction publique du Canada - Canada
Waterlooians.ca - Canada
United Church of Canada
Campaña el Agua un bien Público - Colombia
CENSAT AGUA VIVA, Friends of The Earth Colombia
Ecofondo - Colombia
COECOCEIBA - FoE Costa Rica
Movimiento Mi Cometa - Ecuador
Observatorio Ciudadano de Servicios Publicos - Ecuador
Frente Nacional Por La Salud De Los Pueblos Del Ecuador
EPSU European Federation of Public Service Unions
ATTAC Finland
Friends of the Earth Finland
France Libertés Fondation Danielle Mitterrand - France
Solidarité - France
GRÜNE LIGA e.V - Germany
Heinrich Boell Foundation
Initiative Colibri - Germany
FIAN Deutschland - Germany
National Coalition Against Privatisation - Ghana
People's Health Movement - Ghana
CECIDE Centre du Commerce international pour le Developpement - Guinea
Focus on the Global South
Indian Social Action Forum - INSAF - India
Initiative for Health, Equity & Society - India
People's Coalition for the Right to Water/KruHA - Indonesia
All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) - Kenya
Civil Servants Trade Union ( CSTU) - Malawi
Malawi Municipal Workers’ Union (MAMWU) - Malawi
Water Workers Union of Malawi ( WETUM)
Friends of the Earth Malta
Federation of Parastatal Bodies & Other Unions FPBOU - Mauritius
Government Servants Association (GSA) - Mauritius
Local Authoriries Employees Union (LAEU) - Mauritius
Alianza Mexicana por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos - Mexico
Asociacion Nacional de Medicas Mexicanas A.C
Centro de Derechos Humanos “Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, A.C.” - Mexico
Centro de Ecologia y Desarrollo - Mexico
Centro de Servicios Municipales “Heriberto Jara, A.C.” - Mexico
Centro Derechos Humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria, O.P.”, A.C. - Mexico
Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental, A.C.
Centro Operacional de Vivienda y Poblamiento, Copevi A.C. - Mexico
Coalición de Organizaciones Mexicanas por el Derecho al Agua
Colectivo Radar - Mexico
Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositores a la Presa La Parota - Mexico
Desarrollo, Educación y Cultura Autogestionarios, Equipo Pueblo - Mexico
Educación para la Paz - Mexico
Enlace Rural Regional, A.C. - Mexico
Espacio DESC - Mexico
Food First Information and Action Network- México
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, AC - Mexico
Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario, A.C.
Movimiento Mexicano de Afectados por las Presas y en Defensa de los Ríos
Movimiento Urbano Popular - Mexico
Mujer y Medio Ambiente, A.C. - Mexico
Oficina para América Latina de la Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat (HIC-AL)
Other Worlds, Mexico
Red de Género y Economía - Mexico
Red de Género y Medio Ambiente - Mexico
Red de género y medio ambiente RGMA - Mexico
Red de género y medio ambiente RGMA - Mexico
Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio
Sindicato Nacional da Funcav Publica (SINAFP) - Mozambique
Namibia Public Workers Union ( NAPWU)
Collective Initiative for Reserch and Action (CIRA) - Nepal
Rural Reconstruction Nepal
Windward Islands Civil Servants Union WICSU - Neth. Antilles
Windward Islands Private Sector Union PSU - Neth. Antilles
Both Ends - Netherlands
Corporate Europe Observatory - Netherlands
Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights - Netherlands
Grupo de Solidaridad-Arenal (GRUDESA) - Nicaragua
Campaign for the Welfare State - Norway
FIVAS Foreningen for Internasjonale Vannstudier - Association for International Water Studies - Norway
ACORN - PERU
Comunidades Andinas del Perù
Alliance of Government Workers in the Water Sector (AGWWAS) - Phillippines
Focus on the Global South
IBON Foundation Phillippines
Freedom from Debt Coaltion - Phillippines
WomanHealth - Phillippines
Public Interest Research Network Water Group - Scotland
Centre for Applied Legal Studies - South Africa
Centre for Civil Society Environmental Justice Project, University of KwaZulu-Natal - South Africa
Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa ( DENOSA)
Hospital Personnel Trade Union of south Africa (HOSPERSA)
Municipal, Education, State, Health and allied Workers Union ( MESHAWU) - South Africa
National Education, Health and allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) - South Africa
National Public Service Workers Union (NPSWU) - South Africa
Other Worlds, South Africa
Police and Prison civil Rights Union (POPCRU) - South Africa
South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU)
The Coalition Against Water Privatisation - South Africa
People's Health Movement - South Africa
Ecologistas en Acción - Spain
Ingeniería Sin Fronteras - Spain
Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform ( MONLAR ) - Sri Lanka
National Farmers Assembly - Sri Lanka
Swaziland National Association of civil Servants (SNACS)
Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA)
Millenium Solidarity - Switzerland
Pro Natura - Friends of the Earth Switzerland
Irrigation Training and Economic Empowerment Organization - IRTECO - Tanzania
Focus on the Global South - Thailand
Supolitik Calisma Grubu/Turkiye' (Working Group on Waterpolitics) - Turkey
Uganda Fisheries and Fish Conservation Association UFFCA
Foundation for Gaia - UK
UNISON - UK
WaterAid - UK
World Development Movement - UK
Friends of the Earth, England, Wales and Northern Ireland
The Trade Union of Public Service Workers of Ukraine
La Comision Nacional en Defensa el Agua y la Vida - Uruguay
La Federacion de Funcionarios de Ose -FFOSE- ISP - Uruguay
REDES-Amigos de la Tierra - Uruguay
Coalition for a Strong United Nations - USA
Corporate Accountability International - USA
Food and Water Watch - USA
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy - USA
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns - USA
Other Worlds, USA
PDHRE, People's Movement for Human Rights Learning - USA
People's Health Movement - USA
Sweetwater Alliance - USA
The Alliance for Democracy - USA
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee - USA
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - USA
Alliance for Democracy Boston-Cambridge Chapter - USA
Gender Action - USA
Civil Servants Union Of Zambia (CASWUZ) - Zambia
National Energy Sector and Allied Workers Union (NESAWU) - Zambia
National Unionof Public Services Workers Union ( NUPSWU) - Zambia
University of Zambia and Allied Workers Union (UNZAAWU)
Zambia National Union of Health and Allied Workers (ZNUHAW)
Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union (ZULAWU)
Public Service Association( PSA) - Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Nurses Association ( ZINA)
Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers Union ( ZUCWU)


Signatories - 176 organizations from 47 countries – April 2007