"The Human Right to Water"

The international community is called upon to step up efforts to ensure adequate water supply to a fast growing world population. The conference participants have been looking for ways of distributing scarce water resources to people in a socially just way. They're also debating the impact of the partial or complete privatisation of water supply systems in a number of countries.

It's a truism that water is an indispensable element for human life. Yet 1.1 billion people on this planet do not have sufficient drinking water and 2.4 billion have no or only extremely limited access to sanitation.

As UN general-secretary Kofi Annan put it, the denial of access to water is an affront to human dignity.

In 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted what it called a 'General Comment on the Human Right to Water'. It sets out a framework of action for governments around the globe to ensure that citizens – whether rich or poor – get enough clean water for their daily needs.

A two-day conference in Berlin – organised jointly by the German foreign ministry and the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 21 to 22 October – is dealing with the legal foundations of the human right to water as defined by the UN.

Armed conflicts and water resources

Heiner Bielefeldt who heads the German Institute for Human Rights argues that the world's growing thirst for water is becoming a major potential trigger for war, and global warming is set to accentuate the risk of armed conflicts breaking out over scarce water resources.

"I'm afraid it's a likely scenario", Bielefeldt says. "And we already know of some conflicts in the Middle East in which water plays a major role. So, it's all the more important to talk about not just crisis prevention, but also questions of social justice in organising people's access to water."

The Berlin conference was dealing with the responsibility of governments and local authorities to ensure adequate water supply to all inhabitants without letting the poorest of the poor fall by the wayside.

While examples of negligent policies seem to prevail around the globe, there also some positive developments to report on.

South Africa's 'Free Basic Water Policy'

Casper Human from the Department of Water Affairs in South Africa describes how his country's policy changed for the better in the first half of the 1990s:

"We believe that we nearly performed a miracle in South Africa in providing water services to 15 million people. We provided for instance our free basic water policy which provides 6 kiloliters of water to each and every household per month, free of charge."

"Pre-1994, water was supplied according to your possibility to pay", Casper Human goes on to say. "And that's what we changed. The 15 million that we provided with water are the poorest of the poor – the people that couldn't pay for the water. Now they have access, and that's what the free water policy is all about."

Water services and the private sector

A number of conference participants are highly sceptical of the World Bank's recent policy of supporting the privatisation of water supply and sanitation services. The World Bank believes it can facilitate cost recovery and that measures such as the instalment of prepaid water meters accelerates private sector participation in the provision of water services.

But Miloon Kothari, the United Nations' special rapporteur on adequate housing, warns against viewing such privatisation schemes as a cure-all:

"It's very unfair to ask the poor to pay for water. Already they're paying, because they mostly buy it in the open market. And if anyone, it's the rich who are heavily subsidised. Privatisation immediately leads to increases in water prices, and this is very difficult for people who don't have money for food, health, and then you expect them to also pay for water and sanitation. I think this has to be considered when talking about privatisation issues."

Provision of water services and human rights

Kothari's view is shared by Matthew Craven from the University of London who feels that privatisation schemes entail a magnitude of unanswered questions:

"I think there are serious questions to be posed over privatisation. How do you reach out in a commodified water supply system to people who do not have enough resources to buy water? A second issue is of course the question of disconnection. The enforcement of a water contract supposes that the service provider can disconnect the water, if someone doesn't pay. In both those scenarios you face the possibility of people being deprived of water, and that's of course a general issue for human rights activists."

Casper Human from South Africa agrees, but hastens to add that there's a need for political instruments to make sure that people are made aware of the scarcity of water resources. Prepaid water meters can also be found in his country:

"The more you use, the more you pay. The prepaid meters therefore provide that people realise how scarce the commodity of water is, specifically in South Africa, which is an arid country. You must save water and you must pay for what you get over and above the base."

There's a general feeling among experts that recommendations and comments alone won't bring about a required change towards a fairer distribution of water resources world-wide. But internationally binding treaties are not in sight.

For the time being the right to water for many remains one that only exists on paper.

Hardy Graupner

© DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE 2005

Qantara.de

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Website UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Website 'Water as a Human Right' project