The United Nations Concept of Water as a Human Right: A New Paradigm for Old Problems?

Abstract

Water history reveals millennia-old struggles over the ownership of water, the pollution and depletion of water sources, and conflicting water uses. What is new is the scale of these problems, particularly access to water for the poorest of the poor. This paper discusses the various conceptual responses to the water problématique, including the commodity, public and social approaches. The human rights aspects of the latter are analysed in some detail in light of the recent General Comment on the Right to Water by a United Nations body. The paper argues that countries have international legal obligations, to respect, protect and fulfil this right without discrimination, that carry clear implications for policy and practice. While the report does not argue that this human right requires the complete decommodification of water or that it provides a ‘magic bullet’ solution, it seeks to show the benefits of a human rights approach and provides some suggestions for implementing the right at the local, national and international levels.

Acknowledgements

Comments on an earlier draft by Ashfaq Khalfan and an earlier research grant from the Lionel Murphy Foundation are gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

 1. The paper was first delivered as an Address at the Third Forum on Global Development Policy in cooperation with Bread for the World, 26–27 March 2004, Berlin, Germany.

 2. These activities account for 88% of water uses.

 3. The number of private water projects reaching financial closure in the period 1990 to 1997 increased 10-fold in comparison to the period 1984 to 1990. See Silva et al. (1998, p. 1).

 4. As of 24 November 2004.

 5. Efforts by NGOs to ensure its inclusion did not find unanimous government support. A compromise text was often adopted. For example, the Ministerial Declaration of the Hague on Water Security (2002, para. 3) stated, ‘access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation are basic human needs’.

 6. The right to water also appears to have been derived from the right to health (Article 12 of the Covenant).

 7. Article 27.

 8. Article 14(2)(h).

 9. ‘Water is a limited natural resource and a public good fundamental for life and health’ (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2002, para. 1).

10. This is also consistent with the collective right to self-determination in Article 1 of the Covenant, a collective right that includes the right of peoples—be it countries and possibly indigenous peoples—to pursue their economic, social and cultural development without interference.

11. The causes of this partial middle-class capture of the subsidy scheme are diverse and include the fact that many low-income Chileans, particularly those in informal settlements, lack the necessary documents or the knowledge of the system. Some may fear being stigmatized as poor.

12. Comments of the European Roma Rights Center and Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) on the occasion of the Article 16 Review of Greece, Hungary and Turkey under the European Social Charter Supervision Cycle XVII-1.

13. The Committee sets out a number of procedural safeguards that must be satisfied before disconnection can proceed (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2002, para. 56). It concludes its prescriptions on due process by noting that ‘Under no circumstances shall an individual be deprived of the minimum essential level of water’.

14. Residents of Bon Vista Mansions v Southern Metropolitan Local Council 2002 (6) BCLR 625 (W); Bill of Review, 0208625-3, Special Jurisdiction Appellate Court of Paraná; and Quevedo Miguel Angel y otros c/Aguas Cordobesas S.A. Amparo, Cordoba City, Juez Sustituta de Primera Instancia y 51 Nominación en lo Civil y Comercial de la Ciudad de Córdoba (Civil and Commercial First Instance Court), 8 April 2002, respectively.

15. ‘No household should be denied the right to water on the grounds of their housing or land status’ (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2002, para. 16).

16. SERAC & CESR v Nigeria, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Decision 155/96.

17. For example, ‘The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that projects involving privatization of water supply provide for continued, assured and affordable access to water by local communities, indigenous people, and the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups of society’ (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2004, para. 60).

18. The recent move towards privatization in Ghana is of concern since it places the burden of exchange rate fluctuations on consumers.

19. Article 2(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reads: ‘Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take steps, individually and through international assistance and co-operation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures’. In relation to water, see Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2002), paras 30–36.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Malcolm Langford

 1. The paper was first delivered as an Address at the Third Forum on Global Development Policy in cooperation with Bread for the World, 26–27 March 2004, Berlin, Germany.