BARLOW: Don’t Drink Harper’s Water
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:22 pmDon’t Drink Harper’s Water
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14251
By Maude Barlow, Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
It is World Water Day, a day to celebrate the world’s water heritage and ensure clean adequate supplies of drinking water and sanitation for all. To our shame, Canada is once again leading a charge to weaken language in an important United Nations document that would reiterate the human right to water and sanitation leading up to the June Earth Summit Rio + 20.
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human rights to drinking water and sanitation by an overwhelming vote. Two months later, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a similar resolution and laid out the obligations these rights confer on governments. As it has consistently wherever this subject came up at the UN, the Harper government led the charge to stop the General Assembly from taking this step, which it did not vote for, and now remains one of only two countries in the world — the other being Tonga — that continues to deny that the world’s poorest people should have these rights.
There is no obvious logical explanation for this position. The suggestion that recognising the right to water would endanger Canada’s water supplies is a red herring. The government has long ago been assured by UN experts that these resolutions oblige Canada to provide clean water and satiation only to its own people and does not in any way oblige it to share Canada’s water resources with another country.
The fact is that the Harper government has taken a similar position on a number of recent human rights and environmental agreements. It is ideologically opposed to any extension of human rights, which might oblige it to take proactive measures, such as providing water to First Nations communities in Canada where the water services are deplorable.
As well, recognising the human right to water would clash with the notion of water as a commodity as is currently built into trade agreements like NAFTA. In fact, the world’s two largest private water utilities, Suez and Veolia of France, are fully supportive of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement as it could open the door to lucrative water service contracts in cash- strapped municipalities across Canada.
The Harper government opposes the human right to water precisely because it views water as a market commodity to be sold like oil and gas to the highest bidder. And it continues to work against this right at every chance it gets.
Last week, the Harper government worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that a clear statement on the human right to water and sanitation was removed from the ministerial declaration at the sixth World Water Forum in Marseille France. This week, it is working hard to remove the reference to these rights from the first draft of the Rio+20 working document.
In a rare rebuke, Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, has chastised Canada in a World Water Day press release. “Rio+20 and post-2015 development goals should not betray the previous commitments on the right to water and sanitation,” she said, specifically naming Canada as one of two countries “proposing the removal” of an explicit reference to these right in the document.
This comes at a dangerous time. Just weeks ago, the UN announced that it has met its 2015 millennium goals on drinking water leading many to think the fight has been won. But the UN comes to this assessment by measuring the number of pipes installed in countries. It does not measure whether there is clean water coming out of these pipes, how far people have to walk to get to them or if the water is affordable. Access to a prepaid water metre is not real access to the poor.
Other UN and World Bank studies tell a different story — one in which the planet Earth is running out of clean accessible water and in which billions will suffer unless we take better care of these diminishing water sources and share them more justly.
Shame on the Harper government this World Water Day. Let’s honour the day by telling this government that it is out of step with the whole world.
- - - - - - -
QUOTE: "What is at stake in keeping this reaffirmation of the right to water?"
Why the Right to Water Is Under Attack
http://www.alternet.org/story/154697/
why_the_right_to_water_is_under_attack
By Shiney Varghese, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Posted on March 26, 2012, Printed on April 8, 2012
Last week, even as the world celebrated World Water Day, some countries at the United Nations were trying to remove the reference to the “right to water” from a document that will guide the international development path in the coming decade.
It was less than two years ago, in the summer of 2010, that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution recognizing water as a human right. This was followed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) adopting a resolution on “human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation,” which made these rights legally binding. The recognition of the right to water at these U.N. bodies, and the developments since, such as the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on right to water and the resolution by the World Health Assembly recognizing right to water, have helped place water rights on the global agenda.
These successes were partly the result of collective efforts of water justice activists over the last 10 years. IATP's own advocacy on right to water was a direct response to the reference to water as a “need” [instead of a right], in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2nd World Water Forum in 2000.
But these efforts have been met with consistent pushback. The efforts to undermine the recognition of the right to water have been most visible at the triennial World Water Forum. Starting with the second World Water Forum in 2000, it has steadfastly refused to recognize the right to water. This was the case at the third World Water Forum in 2003 (which followed the U.N. General Comment in 2002 on right to water), at the fourth World Water Forum in 2006 (where several governments led by Bolivia asked that the Ministerial recognize water as a human right) and at the fifth World Water Forum (to which the UNGA president sent a letter affirming the need to recognize water as a human right, and at which 24 governments came out with counter-declaration recognizing water as a human right).
And yet again, in the lead up to the sixth World Water Forum earlier this month (March 12–17, 2012), the draft ministerial declaration did not clearly affirm the right to water despite the fact that it has now been recognized by both by the U.N. General Assembly and by the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Expressing her surprise, the Special Rapporteur on right to water warned that “the outcome of the World Water Forum may result in ‘solutions’ built on faulty foundations.” This is surely a pointed reference to the slogan of the sixth forum that "It’s time for solutions and commitments.”
Instead of unequivocally reaffirming the “the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation,” and explicitly committing to the full implementation of the same, the draft ministerial declaration only committed to accelerate the full implementation of “human right obligations relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.” The issue of whether access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a human right was left open for interpretation. [ . . . ]
- - - - - -
QUOTE: "My message to you, written from the Rio+20 negotiations in New York at the United Nations is that the situation is desperate."
Some thoughts on World Water Day from the UN
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14244
By Anil Naidoo, Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
This World Water Day, as many around the world will be ‘celebrating’ water, I am calling on all who care for water, nature, our communities and rights to act rather than celebrate.
My message to you, written from the Rio+20 negotiations in New York at the United Nations is that the situation is desperate. Virtually every one of our past victories and future hopes are under threat and only a strong and sustained campaign will help. I cannot state my concerns any more strongly.
Over the past 3 days I have witnessed what powerful states have envisioned for the future of water and nature itself, it is truly disturbing. If we do not act, the future will be dominated by markets, pricing, financialization and property rights. In this world, their Green Economy, human rights are not respected as they challenge property rights and markets regimes and allow pressure to be brought upon the state to intervene.
So now that we have achieved the human right to water and sanitation, what do they do? Well, conveniently, if they can remove this reference from UN texts, present and future, then the right will really no longer be in effect, practically speaking, because it will be impossible to move any implementation agenda forward. [ . . . ]
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14251
By Maude Barlow, Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
It is World Water Day, a day to celebrate the world’s water heritage and ensure clean adequate supplies of drinking water and sanitation for all. To our shame, Canada is once again leading a charge to weaken language in an important United Nations document that would reiterate the human right to water and sanitation leading up to the June Earth Summit Rio + 20.
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human rights to drinking water and sanitation by an overwhelming vote. Two months later, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a similar resolution and laid out the obligations these rights confer on governments. As it has consistently wherever this subject came up at the UN, the Harper government led the charge to stop the General Assembly from taking this step, which it did not vote for, and now remains one of only two countries in the world — the other being Tonga — that continues to deny that the world’s poorest people should have these rights.
There is no obvious logical explanation for this position. The suggestion that recognising the right to water would endanger Canada’s water supplies is a red herring. The government has long ago been assured by UN experts that these resolutions oblige Canada to provide clean water and satiation only to its own people and does not in any way oblige it to share Canada’s water resources with another country.
The fact is that the Harper government has taken a similar position on a number of recent human rights and environmental agreements. It is ideologically opposed to any extension of human rights, which might oblige it to take proactive measures, such as providing water to First Nations communities in Canada where the water services are deplorable.
As well, recognising the human right to water would clash with the notion of water as a commodity as is currently built into trade agreements like NAFTA. In fact, the world’s two largest private water utilities, Suez and Veolia of France, are fully supportive of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement as it could open the door to lucrative water service contracts in cash- strapped municipalities across Canada.
The Harper government opposes the human right to water precisely because it views water as a market commodity to be sold like oil and gas to the highest bidder. And it continues to work against this right at every chance it gets.
Last week, the Harper government worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that a clear statement on the human right to water and sanitation was removed from the ministerial declaration at the sixth World Water Forum in Marseille France. This week, it is working hard to remove the reference to these rights from the first draft of the Rio+20 working document.
In a rare rebuke, Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, has chastised Canada in a World Water Day press release. “Rio+20 and post-2015 development goals should not betray the previous commitments on the right to water and sanitation,” she said, specifically naming Canada as one of two countries “proposing the removal” of an explicit reference to these right in the document.
This comes at a dangerous time. Just weeks ago, the UN announced that it has met its 2015 millennium goals on drinking water leading many to think the fight has been won. But the UN comes to this assessment by measuring the number of pipes installed in countries. It does not measure whether there is clean water coming out of these pipes, how far people have to walk to get to them or if the water is affordable. Access to a prepaid water metre is not real access to the poor.
Other UN and World Bank studies tell a different story — one in which the planet Earth is running out of clean accessible water and in which billions will suffer unless we take better care of these diminishing water sources and share them more justly.
Shame on the Harper government this World Water Day. Let’s honour the day by telling this government that it is out of step with the whole world.
- - - - - - -
QUOTE: "What is at stake in keeping this reaffirmation of the right to water?"
Why the Right to Water Is Under Attack
http://www.alternet.org/story/154697/
why_the_right_to_water_is_under_attack
By Shiney Varghese, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Posted on March 26, 2012, Printed on April 8, 2012
Last week, even as the world celebrated World Water Day, some countries at the United Nations were trying to remove the reference to the “right to water” from a document that will guide the international development path in the coming decade.
It was less than two years ago, in the summer of 2010, that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution recognizing water as a human right. This was followed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) adopting a resolution on “human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation,” which made these rights legally binding. The recognition of the right to water at these U.N. bodies, and the developments since, such as the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on right to water and the resolution by the World Health Assembly recognizing right to water, have helped place water rights on the global agenda.
These successes were partly the result of collective efforts of water justice activists over the last 10 years. IATP's own advocacy on right to water was a direct response to the reference to water as a “need” [instead of a right], in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2nd World Water Forum in 2000.
But these efforts have been met with consistent pushback. The efforts to undermine the recognition of the right to water have been most visible at the triennial World Water Forum. Starting with the second World Water Forum in 2000, it has steadfastly refused to recognize the right to water. This was the case at the third World Water Forum in 2003 (which followed the U.N. General Comment in 2002 on right to water), at the fourth World Water Forum in 2006 (where several governments led by Bolivia asked that the Ministerial recognize water as a human right) and at the fifth World Water Forum (to which the UNGA president sent a letter affirming the need to recognize water as a human right, and at which 24 governments came out with counter-declaration recognizing water as a human right).
And yet again, in the lead up to the sixth World Water Forum earlier this month (March 12–17, 2012), the draft ministerial declaration did not clearly affirm the right to water despite the fact that it has now been recognized by both by the U.N. General Assembly and by the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Expressing her surprise, the Special Rapporteur on right to water warned that “the outcome of the World Water Forum may result in ‘solutions’ built on faulty foundations.” This is surely a pointed reference to the slogan of the sixth forum that "It’s time for solutions and commitments.”
Instead of unequivocally reaffirming the “the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation,” and explicitly committing to the full implementation of the same, the draft ministerial declaration only committed to accelerate the full implementation of “human right obligations relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.” The issue of whether access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a human right was left open for interpretation. [ . . . ]
- - - - - -
QUOTE: "My message to you, written from the Rio+20 negotiations in New York at the United Nations is that the situation is desperate."
Some thoughts on World Water Day from the UN
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14244
By Anil Naidoo, Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
This World Water Day, as many around the world will be ‘celebrating’ water, I am calling on all who care for water, nature, our communities and rights to act rather than celebrate.
My message to you, written from the Rio+20 negotiations in New York at the United Nations is that the situation is desperate. Virtually every one of our past victories and future hopes are under threat and only a strong and sustained campaign will help. I cannot state my concerns any more strongly.
Over the past 3 days I have witnessed what powerful states have envisioned for the future of water and nature itself, it is truly disturbing. If we do not act, the future will be dominated by markets, pricing, financialization and property rights. In this world, their Green Economy, human rights are not respected as they challenge property rights and markets regimes and allow pressure to be brought upon the state to intervene.
So now that we have achieved the human right to water and sanitation, what do they do? Well, conveniently, if they can remove this reference from UN texts, present and future, then the right will really no longer be in effect, practically speaking, because it will be impossible to move any implementation agenda forward. [ . . . ]