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Abstract
This article explores global and local discourses on how to implement the newly recognised human right to water and sanitation (HRtWS). We analyse the potential limitations of the human rights frame in the context of critiques that human rights are a liberal, Western discourse that does not reflect the lived experiences of non-Western countries. Through two case studies we find that there are two discourses emerging on how to implement the HRtWS. At the global level, as seen in the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the HRtWS, we find a hegemonic discourse that is state-centric and market-friendly. In Bolivia, a country currently implementing a human rights-based approach to water services, we find a counter-hegemonic discourse on implementation. We argue that the hegemonic discourse is incomplete and does not fully address barriers to fulfilment of the right, such as state corruption and the needs of peri-urban residents.
Notes
1. Gerlak et al., “Unpacking Discourse”; and Gupta et al., “The Human Right to Water.”
2. Rajagopal, International Law from Below; Mutua, Human Rights; and Baxi, The Future of Human Rights.
3. These include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Right to Development (1986), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990).
4. General Comments are not legally binding. They intend to assist state parties, providing a clarification as to the intent, meaning and content of the respective treaties.
5. General Comment 15, paragraphs 1, 2.
6. Ibid., Part III.
7. Nelson, “Local Claims,” 131, 138.
8. Cahill, “The Human Right to Water.”
9. Parmar, “Revisiting the Human Right to Water,” 86–87.
10. Ibid.
11. Sultana and Loftus The Right to Water, 6.
12. Ibid., 6.
13. Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks.
14. Rajagopal, “Counter-hegemonic International Law.”
15. Basok, “Counter-hegemonic Human Rights Discourses,” 184.
16. Donnelly, “Human Rights;” and Heinze, “Human Rights.”
17. Charvet and Kaczynska-Nay, cited in Heinze, “Human Rights,” 168.
18. See Keck and Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders; and Risse et al., The Power of Human Rights.
19. Rajagopal, International Law from Below; Mutua, Human Rights; and Baxi, The Future of Human Rights. This critique is rooted in a broader literature labelled ‘Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)’, which challenges the legitimacy of international law as Eurocentric. For overviews, see Mickelson, “Rhetoric and Rage”; and Mutua, “What is TWAIL?”
20. Rajagopal, “Counter-hegemonic International Law,” 772, 768.
21. Chandler, “Contemporary Critiques,” 110.
22. Falk, “The Power of Rights”; Rajagopal, “Counter-hegemonic International Law”; Kennedy, The Dark Sides of Virtue; and Heinze, “Human Rights.”
23. Baxi, The Future of Human Rights; and Rajagopal, “Counter-hegemonic International Law.”
24. Falk, “The Power of Rights.”
25. Rajagopal, “Counter-hegemonic International Law,” 768.
26. Eide, “Economic and Social Rights,” 110.
27. Perreault, “What Kind of Governance?”
28. Parmar, “Revisiting.”
29. Conca, Governing Water; Bakker, “The ‘Commons’ versus the ‘Commodity’”; and Vandenhole and Wielders, “Water.”
30. Baer, “Private Water, Public Good;” Morgan, “The Regulatory Face”; and Bakker “The ‘Commons’ versus the ‘Commodity’.”
31. Vandenhole and Wielders, “Water,” 420.
32. Bakker, “The ‘Commons’ versus the ‘Commodity’.”
33. Sultana and Loftus The Right to Water.
34. Clark, “The Centrality of Community Participation,” 181–182.
35. Sultana and Loftus The Right to Water, 5.
36. Ibid; and Linton, “The Human Right to What?”
37. Gerring, Case Study Research, 89.
38. Hunt calls for examining discourses as conveyors of hegemonic ideas: ‘The most significant state in the construction of counter-hegemony comes about with the putting into place of discourses, which whilst still building on the elements of hegemonic discourses, introduce elements which transcend that discourse’. Hunt, “Rights and Social Movements,” 314.
39. UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights and Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation. Resolution 7/22.
40. United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. ND. Country Visits at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/CountryVisits.aspx.
41. See UN reports at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/CountryVisits.aspx.
42. It is important to note that in our review of the work of the UN Special Rapporteur, we did not find any specific country reports or country visits to Bolivia.
43. See Annual Reports at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.
44. de Albuquerque, “Special Rapporteur”; de Albuquerque, “Statement by the Special Rapporteur”; and de Albuquerque, “Intervention by Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque.”
45. de Albuquerque “Report of the Independent Expert,” 18.
46. Ibid., 7.
47. de Albuquerque and Roaf, On the Right Track.
49. Congreso Nacional, Nueva Constitución.
50. Ibid.
51. “Bolivia Aims for 84% Potable Water.”
52. MMAyA, Boletín Mensual, Enero, 3.
53. Oporto, “Cuando la Política hace Aguas,” 53.
54. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, “Bolivia.”
55. Ibid.
56. SISAB, Memoria Anual; and Salinas, “Reformas Institucionales,” 104.
57. Jaldín, “A 12 Años.”
58. Manzaneda, “El 25%.”
59. Jaldín, “A 12 Años.”
60. Fundación Abril, “Agua y Saneamiento.”
61. Forero, “Who will Bring Water?”
62. Jaldín, “A 12 Años.”
63. Driessen, “Beyond Water Wars.”
64. The Board of SEMAPA is now composed of two seats for the mayor’s office, one seat to the governor’s office, one seat for the Ministry of Water, one seat for the College of Professionals, and four seats for the citizen directors.
65. Spronk, “Moving from Protest to Proposal,” 21.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. See Driessen et al, “Transparencia”; Driessen, “Collective Management Strategies”; and Driessen, “Beyond Water Wars.”
69. Spronk, “Moving from Protest to Proposal.”
70. T. Driessen, author interview, December 4, 2008.
71. Driessen, “Collective Management Strategies.”
72. T. Driessen, author interview, December 4, 2008.
73. Oporto, “Cuando la Política hace Aguas”; and Driessen, “Beyond Water Wars.”
74. Shultz, “The Cochabamba Water Revolt,” 37.
75. Achtenberg, “From Water Wars to Water Scarcity”; and Spronk, “After the Water Wars.”
76. Fundación Abril, “Agua y Saneamiento”; Crespo, “La Situación”; and Olivera, “Palabras contra el Olvido.”
77. Fundación Abril, “Agua y Saneamiento,” 3–4.
78. Olivera, “Palabras contra el Olvido,” 86.
79. Fernández, “La Agenda del Agua.”
80. Fundación Abril, “Agua y Saneamiento,” 4–5.
81. Olivera, “Palabras contra el Olvido,” 87.
82. de Albuquerque, “Statement by the Independent Expert.”
83. Conca, Governing Water.
84. Mehta, “Do Human Rights make a Difference?,” 63.
85. Ibid., 78; and Fundación Abril, “Agua y Saneamiento,” 2.
86. Olivera, “Palabras contra el Olvido.”
87. Bustamante et al., “Seeing through the Concept of Water,” 227.
88. Ibid., 231.
89. Ibid., 229.
