THE RIGHT TO WATER AND SANITATION

Water is a scarce resource that is, at the same time, indispensable for human life and for ecosystems. The current world water situation is very worrying - according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) more than 1,100 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. For this reason, and owing to the importance of drinking water for human beings, the recognition and guarantee of the human right to access to drinking water is vital.

The Declaration of Emerging Human Rights recognises the human right to access to drinking water and sanitation when it affirms that all human beings and all communities have the right to live in conditions of dignity.

Title I. The right to egalitarian democracy

Article 1

The right to existence under conditions of dignity. All human beings and every community have the right to live under conditions of dignity.

This fundamental human right comprises the following rights:

•  The right to security of life, which entails the right of all human beings and communities, for their survival, to drinking water and sanitation, energy and adequate basic food, and to not suffer situations of hunger. All individuals have the right to a continuous and sufficient supply of electricity and to free access to drinking water in order to satisfy their basic needs of life.

The human right to water and sanitation can be considered from different perspectives, all being necessary and complementary. On the one hand, the recognition under international law of the right to access to drinking water as a human right is essential. At the same time, aspects such as the process of the commercialisation of water or the issue of public management with participation and social control are extremely relevant debates at the social level that must also be considered by administrations.

DOCUMENTS

Resources: International legal instruments, declarations, action plans and recommendations from world conferences that make reference to the right to access to drinking water.

Article: L'aigua és un dret humà, IDHC, 2008 (PDF)

Programme “The human right to the access to drinking water and sanitation” (31 st of October 2007) (PDF, in Spanish)

Programme Seminar “The right to the access to drinking water” (27 th of June 2006) (PDF, in Spanish)

Conclusions Seminar “The right to the access to drinking water” (27 th of June 2006) (PDF, in Catalan)

Publication :

4. The human right to the access to drinking water and sanitation - Introduction to the legal framework of the human right to water: an International Law perspective, Àlex Peñalver Cabré - The ethics of water management, Pedro Arrojo Agudo - The commercialisation of water management. Failures and alternatives, Lluís Basteiro y Ana Gris - Public management with participation and social control: towards the human right to water, Jaume Delclòs Ayats - Water and human rights: the basis of the human right to water, Jaume Saura i Estapà Download in PDF (in Spanish)