The right to water in a transboundary context: emergence of seminal trends

Abstract

The human right to water is receiving increasing recognition in national legislative acts and international instruments. Along with this recognition comes the legal delineation of state obligations with respect to water availability, access and supply, as well as to the protection of these individual water rights. Questions remain, however, as to whether “water-rich” states are under any obligation to provide the resource to “water-poor” states and, if so, to what extent. These questions are explored here with respect to international cooperation obligations under human rights law as well as with respect to the law applicable to transboundary water resources.

Keywords:

• right to water
• transboundary water resources
• international law
• human rights

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Ariella D'Andrea and the two anonymous peer reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article. Research for this article was carried out with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation within the context of a comprehensive analysis of international water agreements and international cooperation obligations.

Notes

1. Details of all statutory references are listed in the Appendix.