Is it possible to provide everyone with access to drinking water?
At global level, there is enough water for everyone, and we have suitable and affordable techniques to guarantee access to drinking water for all. If we can fight effectively against pollution and the causes of climate change, there is enough water to meet everyone's needs. The main reasons for the shortage of water are poverty and the lack of political will.
How much does this human right cost?
For the right to water to become a reality, an investment of 20 billion dollars per year would be required. This is the amount spent each week for military purposes. It is less than what Europeans and Americans spend each year on ice cream or pet food. Nonetheless, it is a profitable investment. The World Health Organization states that each dollar invested in water and sanitation saves eight dollars on average due to a reduction in healthcare costs and an increase in productivity at work. Allowing the problem to persist therefore costs nine times more than resolving it.
An international objective?
The problem is not a new one..
In 1977, the closing declaration of the United Nations Conference on Water, Mar del Plata, acknowledged the right to water. The UN declared the 1980s as being the decade of water and sanitation. The world leaders had 10 years to solve this problem, but in 1990 the situation was worse!
In 1996, 171 countries in the international community unanimously adopted the 'Habitat Agenda' (Habitat II), which stated that water and hygiene are part of the right to a normal standard of living.
Currently, the Millennium Objectives determine the guidelines in terms of access to water and sanitation. The international community is committed to reducing to reduce the number of people who do not have access to drinking water and sanitation by half before 2015, with respect to the numbers from the year 2000. If this objective is reached, there will still be 800 million people without access to water. These objectives will apparently not be met.
On December 10th 2008, several organisations (including GREEN) organised a demonstration in front of the European Parliament for access to water to be recognised as a human right. This demonstration took place on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In February 2009, Mikhail Gorbachev and others came to the European Parliament in Brussels for the 'Peace with Water' conference during which the world water protocol was presented. It demands that all national authorities recognise water as a human right.
The 5th World Water Forum
From March 16 th to 22 nd 2009, the World Water Council organised the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. 27,000 water experts from various fields (scientists, representatives from administrations and companies, politicians, NGOs, etc) from 150 countries gathered to discuss the water problem. Many representatives from governments, NGOs, youth organisations, women's movements, etc. asked for the ministers' closing speech to include access to drinking water and a sanitation system as a 'fundamental human right' and not only a 'human need'. Unfortunately, this was refused, as it was for the previous World Water Forums. It was mainly Brazil, the United States and Egypt which refused to recognise this right.
Legitimacy of the forum called into question
According to the president of the United Nations, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann: 'As it stands, this important statement undermines the efforts of those who are struggling for access to clean water and sanitation. Those who are committed to the privatisation of water, making it a commodity like oil, are denying people a human right as basic as the air we breath.' The UN president also questioned the legitimacy of the forum itself. 'The forum’s orientation is profoundly influenced by private water companies. This is evident by the fact that both the president of the World Water Council and the alternate president are deeply involved with provision of private, for-profit, water services.'
This is why he proposes that the next World Water Forums should be organised under the auspices of the United Nations. The next Forum will take place in 2012 in Marseille, France. So far, 24 countries have signed the declaration that they recognise access to water and a sanitation system as being a human right. For the moment, Spain is the only European country on this list. Switzerland and Norway have stated that they would support this principle. At the same time, 16 countries have signed a declaration to organise a democratic, participative and transparent World Water Forum under the aegis of the United Nations. There has been no reaction on behalf of Belgium. GREEN has requested the point of view of the three competent ministers.
For more information:
- The Istanbul 2009 World Water Forum ministerial statement »
- Memorandum for a World Water Protocol »
- The completed declaration and the list of countries which signed it »
Many NGOs, unions and an increasing number of politicians refuse to recognise the World Water Forum because it is organised by the World Water Council which is dominated by multinational water companies such as Veolia and Suez. This alternative movement proposes the organisation of a World Water Forum under the aegis of the United Nations so that the results would be considered obligatory for the participating authorities. This movement is firmly opposed to the privatisation and liberalisation of the water sector and considers water to be a common good instead of a marketable good.
This international movement organised an alternative World Water Forum in Istanbul from 20 to 22 March. Some 1000 people from 70 countries were present.
GREEN was also there and gathered some information:
- In Kenya, at the border with Sudan and Uganda, women and children walk 20 km every day to fetch 20 litres of water. The worsening drought is causing extreme poverty and a struggle to survive. Many people do not survive this quest for water. We spoke with Ikal Angelei, a young woman from the association Friends of Lake Turkana, who had found a dead child in a hut. The child's parents had been assassinated during a raid as they were fetching drinking water. In this isolated region, abandoned by the political authorities, the government authorised the construction of a dam for energy production where American companies fish for export. The fish population was once twice as big as that of Lake Victoria. Due to poor water management and climate change, the water in the lake is becoming brackish and the level is dropping drastically.
Photo © Dieter Telemans: Kenya (border with Ethiopia) – Due to global warming, the periods of drought are occurring much more frequently than they did 20-30 years ago. The shepherds can no longer find water for their animals.
- In the valley of the Salween river in China, Myanmar and Thailand, the authorities and energy providers are planning the construction of five dams in a region of great natural wealth and biodiversity. The rights of the local population will therefore be totally ignored. For more information visit www.salweenwatch.org
Photo © Free Burma Rangers: Thousands of people have already had to flee due to war and fighting and are now forced to leave the valley once again in the direction of Thailand.
- According to many Turkish NGOs, the water policy of the Turkish authorities is focused on the privatisation of the water supply and the management of rivers. The cases of four huge dams which are considered both destructive and risky were discussed during the People’s Forum: Ilisu, Yusufeli, Munzur and Yortanli. The Ilisu dam is part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) and is one of the most highly controversial dam projects in the world. The construction of this dam would have an impact on international politics in the Middle East. It would be located in the region of Kurdistan and is considered by the population to be a direct attack on their cultural and political rights.
Photo © Dieter Telemans: Turkey - The water in the artificial lake created by the construction of the Birecek dam flooded most of the village of Halfeti in western Turkey.