Towards a Human Rights Approach to Water in Lebanon: Implementation beyond ‘Reform’

Abstract

This paper examines what it means for Lebanon to adopt a human rights approach to water. Experts agree that there is a crisis in the water sector, with the poor suffering disproportionately in terms of access to, availability and quality of water. The paper details the gap between Lebanon's political acceptance of water as a human right, and its implementation. It suggests that the civil war, Israeli occupation and mismanagement reduced Lebanon's capacity to ensure an adequate water and sanitation services to its citizens. A lack of political will due to clientalist and sectarian considerations in public policy, ineffective public participation and tension over transboundary water resources have further intensified this problem and has led to the continued dominance of traditional security considerations in water policy. The paper asserts that the main goals set by the current reform process of the water sector address important capacity issues, such as efficiency gains and cost recovery, but do not signal a political shift towards a human rights-based approach.