Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water in the Arab Countries of the Middle East

Abstract

The international community has affirmed the human right to water in a number of international treaties, declarations and other documents. Most notably, the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted in November 2002 a General Comment on the Right to Water setting out international standards and obligations relating to the right to water. Based on the UN concept of water as a human right for selected Arab countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon), the paper analyses if and to what extent these concepts are acknowledged. It aims to identify the scale of knowledge of and commitment to the UN concept in the region, and the main areas of concern in each country regarding water as a human right. The paper summarizes the main challenges facing strategic and coordinated action towards the UN concept of water as a human right, identifies what types of processes and institutions need to be developed to meet the challenges of the concept, and provides best practice examples from countries that have shown innovation. Objectives and priority ideas for activities of non-governmental organizations are recommended.

Table 1. Egypt: evaluation of the UN criteria

Table 2. Palestine: evaluation of the UN criteria

Table 3. Jordan: evaluation of the UN criteria

Table 4. Lebanon: evaluation of the UN criteria

Acknowledgements

Case studies were performed by Karen Assaf (Palestine), Bayoumi Attia (Egypt), Ali Darwish (Lebanon) and Batir Wardam (Jordan). The project's concept and coordination were performed by S.K. on behalf on hbf.

Notes

1. The six core human rights treaties are: (1) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in 1966 and which entered into force 23 March 1976; (2) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted in 1966 and which entered into force 3 January 1976; (3) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted in 1965 and which entered into force 4 January 4 1969; (4) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted in 1979 and which entered into force 3 September 1981; (5) Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted in 1984 and which entered into force 26 June 1987; and (6) Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 and which entered into force 2 September 1990.

2. The human right on water is also protected in times of conflict under the Geneva Convention.

3. Ratified by 146 countries.

4. According to the European Council on Environmental Law, water is above all a social good, i.e. a resource that forms part of the common heritage of humanity. Water is also seen as an economic good of great value, but which cannot be treated as a mere commodity such as other consumer goods. The Council stresses that access to drinking water must not be subject to market forces dominated by the profit motive.