View previous stories
	We say water is a human right by UN News, Right2Water campaign, agencies   May 2015   NGOs urge Post-2015 Declaration include Water, Sanitation as Basic Human Rights.(IPS)   Nearly every major international conference concludes with a “programme of action” (PoA) – described in U.N. jargon as “an outcome document” – preceded by a political declaration where 193 member states pledge to honour their commitments.   But over 600 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a coalition of mostly international water activists, are complaining that a proposed political declaration for the U.N.’s post-2015 development agenda is set to marginalise water and sanitation.   The development agenda, along with a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is expected to be adopted at a summit meeting of world leaders Sep. 25-27 in New York.   Meera Karunananthan, international water campaigner for the Blue Planet Project, told IPS that with more than 600 NGOs worldwide urging member states to revise the proposed political declaration, it is clear that water remains a very critical issue for billions of people around the world.   “Any development agenda is contingent upon the availability of freshwater resources, and as the world battles an increasingly severe crisis in freshwater scarcity, the competition for access is already causing conflicts around the world,” she said.   The NGO coalition includes WaterAid, Food and Water Watch, Council of Canadians, Global Water Institute, Earth Law Alliance, Indigenous Rights Centre, Right 2 Water, Church World Service, Mining Working Group, End Water Poverty and Blue Planet Project.   Lucy Prioli of WaterAid told IPS with over 2.5 billion people living without basic sanitation and hundreds of millions more without access to water, it is critical that the human right to both water and sanitation is “placed front and centre in the post-2015 Declaration.”   “The international community will never achieve its ambition of ending world hunger unless it also tackles under-nutrition, which is caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation,” she said.   The 193-member U.N. General Assembly recognised water and sanitation as a basic human right back in 2010.   Yet, 40 percent of the world’s population lacks access to adequate sanitation and a quarter of the population lacks access to clean drinking water.   In a 2012 joint report, U.S. intelligence agencies portrayed a grim scenario for the foreseeable future: ethnic conflicts, regional tensions, political instability and even mass killings.   During the next 10 years, however, “many countries important to the United States will almost certainly experience water problems – shortages, poor water quality, or floods – that will contribute to the risk of instability and state failure, and increased regional tensions,” stated a National Intelligence Estimate.   Karunanthan said the U.N.s proposed post-2015 economic agenda, which includes a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), must not ignore these dangers.   It must instead be proactive and safeguard water for the environment and the essential needs of people by explicitly recognising the human right to water and sanitation, she said.   “If we are to avoid the mistakes of the past which led to the failure of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to meet its targets regarding sanitation, then it is important for the SDGs to be firmly rooted in a human rights -based framework,” she added.   The coalition says it wants to ensure the needs of people and the environment are prioritised in any water resource management strategy promoted within the SDGs.   “The post-2015 development agenda presents an important opportunity to fulfill the commitments made by member states in 2010,” the NGOs say.   The NGO demand builds on the consistent and urgent advocacy done by civil society throughout the post-2015 process regarding the importance of inclusion of the human right to water and sanitation.   U.N. Member States have stressed the need for an agenda that is “just, equitable, transformative, and people-centered”.   Global water justice groups argue that inclusion of the human right to water and sanitation in the post-2015 Declaration is vital to realising this goal.   http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/ngos-urge-post-2015-declaration-include-water-sanitation-as-basic-human-rights/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/prepaid-meters-scupper-gains-made-in-accessing-water-in-africa/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/may/21/privatisation-public-services-sustainable-development-investor-state-dispute-settlement http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/1380/2015/en/   Jakarta court cancels world"s biggest water privatisation - People"s Coalition for The Right To Water   The Central Jakarta District Court in Indonesia on 24 March annulled the water privatisation contracts of Suez (PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya – Palyja) and Aetra, finding that the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) were negligent in fulfilling the human right to water for Jakarta’s residents.   The court decision is the culmination of many years of resistance by a broad coalition of Jakarta residents, trade unions, and other water justice activists.   They were upset not only with the initial, corrupt, behind-the-scenes decision (made under the Suharto regime in 1997) to privatize water supply; they opposed the continuous manipulations of the private operators to increase their profits without improving water services.   Water services coverage is lower than promised and water leakage levels are high (44%); water tariffs grew fourfold since privatisation, 2.7 times higher than the public operator in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city.   Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of the global trade union federation Public Services International says:   “Yesterday’s decision is a success for the Jakarta citizens and workers, but also for the global water movement. It is further proof of the misguided and myopic World Bank and Asian Development Bank privatization strategies, which are not only unwelcome, but are illegal. We call on the World Bank and the ADB to immediately cease-and-desist all of their privatization initiatives in the water and sanitation sector, including in Nagpur and Mysore in India, and in Lagos, Nigeria.”   The Central Jakarta District Court decision is coherent with the Indonesian Constitutional Court ruling of 20 February 2015, which annulled Law No. 7/2004 on Water Resources passed by the Indonesian government, again under pressure from the World Bank. The ruling was made on the grounds that water resources have to be controlled and allocated for the public benefit, thus private companies cannot monopolize rights over water sources.   Nila Ardhianie, Director of Amrta Institute for Water Literacy in Indonesia said:   “We applaud these two verdicts. For Jakarta, it is now up to the Governor. Together, we can build a strong public utility for all Jakartans. We can also get help from strong public utilities, both in Indonesia and from overseas, but without the distortions of profit maximization.”   Jakarta joins major cities in remunicipalising their water services: Paris, Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Accra, Dar es Salaam, Kuala Lumpur.   Most of these remunicipalisations are not ideological, but are because privatisation led to unsustainable water rates. Public water services are better able to integrate social and environmental needs that are critical to planning water sustainably in the future.   http://www.world-psi.org/en/jakarta-court-cancels-worlds-biggest-water-privatisation-after-18-year-failure   March 21, 2015   Tens of Thousands Flood Dublin Demanding Abolition of Austerity Tax On Water.   Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Irish capital to demand the abolition of a controversial water tax—an austerity measure that protesters say violates the human right to this vital good.   The campaign Right2Water said that over 80,000 people from across Ireland took part, to prevent the government from privatizing Ireland"s water bureau, Irish Water.   Addressing the crowd, Communications Workers Union representative Steve Fitzpatrick called for water to be protected as a public good in the constitution. The union is proposing an amendment which would read, "The Government shall be collectively responsible for the protection, management and maintenance of the public water system."   Many emphasized that the fight to defend water rights—and public goods—spans the globe.   Memet Uludag of the Irish Anti-Racism Network, called attention to the fact that the protest coincided with World Anti-Racism day.   "We say water is a human right". "Black and white, we will unite and we will fight. From Bolivia to Detroit to Greece, people have been fighting against cuts, against austerity", reported The Irish Times   20 October 2014   Detroit’s water shut-offs target the poor, vulnerable and African Americans   The unprecedented scale of water shut-offs taking place in Detroit is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable and poorest, most of whom are African American, two United Nations human rights experts have warned today. So far this year over 27,000 residences have had water services disconnected.   At the end of a three-day visit to Detroit, the UN Special Rapporteurs on the human right to water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, and on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, stressed that all decisions that affect access to water and to adequate housing for residents of Detroit should be guided by human rights.   “It is contrary to human rights to disconnect water from people who simply do not have the means to pay their bills,” Ms. de Albuquerque said. “I heard testimonies from poor, African American residents of Detroit who were forced to make impossible choices – to pay the water bill or to pay their rent.”   The utility has passed on the increased costs of leakages due to an aging infrastructure onto all remaining residents in Detroit by increasing water rates by 8.7 percent.   “This, combined with the decreased number of customers, and increased unemployment rate, has made water bills increasingly unaffordable to thousands of residents in Detroit living under the poverty line,” she noted. “In addition, repeated cases of gross errors on water bills have been reported, which are also used as a ground for disconnections. In practice, people have no means to prove the errors and hence the bills are impossible to challenge.”   “Tenants and owners are living with such stress and uncertainty, fearing they won´t be able to pay their water bill and will eventually be evicted or suffer foreclosure,” Ms. Farha said. “Such situations go against internationally recognized human rights standards.”   The Special Rapporteurs noted that measures taken so far, including the Mayor’s 10 Point Plan, have not been of assistance to those who are chronically poor and face water shut-offs. More worryingly, the city has no data on how many people have been and are living without tap water, let alone information on age, disabilities, chronic illness, race or income level of the affected population.   In that regard, the experts called for the establishment of a mandatory federal water and sewerage affordability standard. In addition, they said, “special policies and tailored support for people in particularly vulnerable circumstances must be introduced.”   “The indignity suffered by people whose water was disconnected is unacceptable,” Ms. de Albuquerque stressed. “A woman whose water had been cut explained that her teenage daughters had to wash themselves with a bottle of water during menstruation, and had to refrain from flushing the toilet to save water.”   “I also listened to numerous stories of fear: mothers who fear losing their children because their water was shut off; heads of households who fear losing access to water without any prior notice; others who fear receiving unaffordable and arbitrary water bills,” the expert added.   “I heard repeated testimonies of people stating that they had been charged for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s infrastructure deficiencies, including leakages, and also the utility’s lack of competence in dealing with errors in billing or requests for assistance,” Ms. Farha said.   “I am alarmed by the fact that many residents were not provided with any advance notice before their water was shut off and there seems to be no administrative or legal remedies for disputed bills and water disconnections,” she added.   “The City of Detroit should restore water connections to residents unable to pay and to vulnerable groups of people including persons with disabilities, the chronically ill, and households with small children”, stressed Ms. de Albuquerque.   “Every effort should be made by all levels of government to ensure that the most vulnerable are not evicted from or lose their housing as a result of water shut-offs or water bill arrears. Where an individual or family is rendered homeless due to water shut-offs, the city of Detroit must have in place emergency services to ensure alternate accommodation with running water is available”, stated Ms. Farha.   The Special Rapporteurs recalled that the United States is bound by international human rights law, including the right to life as well as the right to non-discrimination concerning housing, water and sanitation and the highest attainable standard of health.   “These obligations apply to all levels of Government – federal, state and municipal,” Ms. de Albuquerque and Ms. Farha underscored.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/SRWaterIndex.aspx http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/news/program-affiliation/right-water http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Current_Issues_Paper-_The_Rights_to_Safe_Water_and_Sanitation.pdf http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/HousingIndex.aspx http://blog.amnestyusa.org/americas/update-detroit-pledges-to-stop-water-shutoffs-to-those-who-cant-pay/ http://blog.amnestyusa.org/category/escr/ http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2014/world/detroit-water-shutoffs-resume-bankruptcy-lawyers-banks-cash/ http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2015/03/20/world-water-day-legislation-sharmila-murthy   October 2014   100,000 Irish Protesters say "Water is a Human Right!"   100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin to denounce a new water tax and declare, "Water is a human right."   Protesters say the water charges, to begin next year, are yet more austerity measures that have pushed people towards a "tipping point."   Fifty-year-old Martin Kelly held a sign reading "Stop the great water heist" and told Reuters, "There is absolute fury against what the government has imposed on the people."   "This day will go down in history as the day that the people decided to roar," said Independent TD Clare Daly. "We are here in our tens of thousands to say water is a human right, based on need, not an ability to pay."   Independent councillor Declan Bree said that people have already been paying €1.2 billion for water through their taxes, and said the new plan is a step towards privatizing the country"s water.   A statement from the People Before Profit Alliance reads: "We can stop these charges if we come together and resist. In the 1990s, the government tried to impose water charges on domestic users. They were met with mass protests and were forced to retreat. People power defeated the water charges then. We can do the same today."   The Right2Water campaign has urged the government to abandon the water tax, noting: "Access to water is recognized as a human right by the United Nations. The Irish Constitution supports the distribution of vital community resources, like water, on the needs of the common good."   European Citizens Initiative calls for water to be human right, not a commodity.   Over 1.7 million Europeans brought their voices to Brussels to say "water is a human right," not a commodity to be privatized.   The action comes as a result the first European Citizens Initiative (ECI) a mechanism through which EU citizens can propose legislation if they show backing from at least one million EU citizens, coming from at least 7 out of the 28 member states.   The campaign behind this first ECI, the Right2water, has three main goals. "Implement the human right to water, do not liberalize water services in the EU and do more to ensure people across the world have access to clean and safe water," says Jan Willem Goudriaan, vice-president of the ECI Right2Water.   "We want the EU to change their mind-set from its current focus on competition and completely market-based approach, to a public service attitude and a rights-based approach. Water is a limited natural resource and a public good fundamental for life and health. It is a ‘natural’ monopoly and must be kept out of internal market rules".   Gabriella Zanzanaini, Director of European Affairs for the watchdog group Food & Water Europe, says "Time and time again through referendums and petitions, citizens have made it evident that they do not want water to be treated as a commodity and that it should be a public service," she stated.   Representatives of Right2Water, which has the backing of the European Anti Poverty Network, European Public Health Alliance and the European Trade Union Confederation, presented their proposal to Commission Vice-President Šefčovič and senior Commission officials, and had a public hearing in the European Parliament.   At the hearing, Zanzanaini said, it was "also mentioned that for every dollar invested in water, the social return is many times higher. In austerity-hit countries, it is especially important that privatization does not occur as people cannot afford to pay even higher bills."   "What the troika has been doing actually goes against the EU Treaty," she continued. "It was mentioned many times today that the water management model falls under a Member States competency and not the EU, and yet by imposing water privatization through loan conditionalities on countries like Greece and Portugal it is doing the opposite."   Speaking to press ahead of the hearing, Šefčovič said it was a "good day for grassroots democracy," while a spokesperson from Right2Water said she was happy to be there "not only to present our initiative but also our demands. We"ll see now how we can organize to make this demand, to make water... a human right."   The Commission has until 20 March to decide on its response to the initiative.   http://www.right2water.eu/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/30/water-privatisation-worldwide-failure-lagos-world-bank   Jan 2013   Groups protest fees on water wells in Sri Lanka   A broad-coalition of Sri Lanka organizations are protesting the government’s decision to impose fees on traditional tube wells used to obtain drinking water.   The statement released by the groups, which include the Centre for Environmental Justice/Friends of the Earth, the Sri Lanka Environment Congress and Oxfam Australia, warns that the new fees will deny the poor and marginalized communities their right to drinking water, in contravention of the United Nations explicit recognition that access to water is a human right.   In a statement released to the media, the organizations call on the government to abandon fees on drinking water as a mechanism “to prevent over utilization, destruction of water catchments, water resources or dumping of chemicals, fertilizer, insecticides/pesticides, solid or soluble waste, sewage.” Instead, “government should enforce the existing pollution control regulations, environmental impacts assessment mechanisms, environmental protection licenses and the current provision on the Irrigation act and other similar regulations.”   http://qpsactionnow.org/news/groups-protest-fees-water-wells-sri-lanka Visit the related web page
	Global response to atrocities by states and armed groups ‘shameful and ineffective’ by Amnesty International   25 February 2015   World leaders must act urgently to confront the changing nature of conflict and protect civilians from horrific violence by states and armed groups, urged Amnesty International as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world.   "2014 was a catastrophic year for millions caught up in violence. The global response to conflict and abuses by states and armed groups has been shameful and ineffective. As people suffered an escalation in barbarous attacks and repression, the international community has been found wanting", states Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.   “The United Nations was established 70 years ago to ensure that we would never again see the horrors witnessed in the Second World War. We are now seeing violence on a mass scale and an enormous refugee crisis caused by that violence. There has been a singular failure to find workable solutions to the most pressing needs of our time.”   Amnesty International’s Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of human rights in 160 countries during 2014.   Unless the world’s leaders act immediately to confront the changing nature of conflict and address other shortcomings identified in the report, the human rights outlook for the coming year is bleak:   More civilian populations forced to live under the quasi-state control of brutal armed groups, subject to attacks, persecution, and discrimination.   Deepening threats to freedom of expression and other rights, including violations caused by new draconian anti-terror laws and unjustified mass surveillance.   A worsening humanitarian and refugee crisis with even more people displaced by conflict as governments continue to block borders and the international community fails to provide assistance and protection.   Of particular concern is the rising power of non-state armed groups, including the group which calls itself Islamic State (IS).   Armed groups committed abuses in at least 35 countries in 2014, more than 1 in 5 of the countries that Amnesty International investigated.   " As the influence of groups such as Boko Haram, IS and Al Shabaab spills over national borders, more civilians will be forced to live under their quasi-state control, subject to abuse, persecution and discrimination", stated Anna Neistat, Senior Director for Research at Amnesty International.   “Governments must stop pretending the protection of civilians is beyond their power and help roll back the tide of suffering of millions. Leaders must embrace a fundamental change in the way they respond to crises around the world.”   UN Security Council veto   In Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Israel and Ukraine, the UN Security Council (UNSC) has failed to deal with crises and conflict, even in situations where horrific crimes are being committed against civilians by states or by armed groups, based on vested interests or political expediency.   Amnesty International is now calling for the five permanent UNSC members to renounce their veto rights in situations of genocide and other mass atrocities.   “This could be a game changer for the international community and the tools it has at its disposal to help protect civilian lives. By renouncing their veto rights the five permanent members of the Security Council would give the UN more scope to take action to protect civilians when lives are at grave risk and send a powerful signal to perpetrators that the world will not sit idly by while mass atrocities take place,” said Salil Shetty.   Arms trade   The bloody legacy of the flooding of weapons into countries where they are used for grave abuses by states and armed groups claimed tens of thousands of civilian lives in 2014.   Amnesty International is calling for all states—including the US, China, Canada, India, Israel and Russia—to ratify or accede, and adhere, to the Arms Trade Treaty which came into force last year after decades of campaigning by Amnesty International and others.   “Huge arms shipments were delivered to Iraq, Israel, South Sudan and Syria in 2014 despite the very high likelihood that these weapons would be used against civilian populations trapped in conflict. When IS took control of large parts of Iraq, it found large arsenals, ripe for the picking. The irresponsible flow of weapons to human rights abusers must stop now,” said Anna Neistat.   Explosive weapons   Amnesty International is calling for world leaders to introduce new restrictions to tackle the use of explosive weapons—such as aircraft bombs, mortars, artillery, rockets and ballistic missiles—in populated areas, which led to countless civilian deaths in 2014.   “Further restrictions on the use of explosive weapons which cannot be precisely targeted or which otherwise have wide-area effect in populated areas could have helped save thousands of lives lost in recent conflicts, including in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. The international community can and must do more to protect civilians whose homes have become the frontline battle zone of warring parties,” said Anna Neistat.   Draconian responses   Amnesty International is urging governments to ensure their response to security threats do not undermine fundamental human rights or fuel further violence.   The Annual Report details how many governments in 2014 reacted to security threats with draconian and repressive tactics including:   Afghanistan: repeated human rights violations by National Directorate of Security (NDS) personnel, including allegations of torture and enforced disappearances.   Kenya: enacted the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill, a piece of repressive security legislation that could lead to widespread restrictions on freedoms of expression and movement.   Nigeria: communities already terrorized for years by Boko Haram became increasingly vulnerable to violations by the state security forces, which regularly responded with extra judicial killings, mass arbitrary arrests and torture.   Pakistan: authorities lifted a moratorium on executions and began executing prisoners convicted of terrorism-related charges.   Russia and Central Asia: those accused of terror-related offences, or suspected of belonging to Islamist groups were tortured at the hands of national security forces.   Turkey: broadly framed anti-terrorism legislation continued to be used to criminalise the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression.   From Baga to Baghdad, government leaders have attempted to justify human rights violations by talking of the need to keep the world ‘safe’.   “We are seeing worrying signs that leaders will continue to crack down hard on protests, introduce draconian anti-terror laws and use unjustified mass surveillance techniques in response to security threats. But knee-jerk reactions do not work. Instead they create an environment of repression in which extremism can thrive.”   Refugees   A tragic consequence of the international community’s inability to deal with the changing face of conflict is one of the worst refugee crisis the world has seen, as millions of people – including 4 million from Syria alone – continue to flee violence and persecution.   “It is abhorrent to see how wealthy countries’ efforts to keep people out take precedence over their efforts to keep people alive. The global refugee crisis is only likely to get worse, unless urgent measures are taken,” said Salil Shetty.   “Leaders have it in their power to alleviate the suffering of millions—by committing political and financial resources to assist and protect those fleeing danger, delivering humanitarian aid generously, and resettling the most vulnerable.”   Call to action   “The global outlook on the state of human rights is bleak, but there are solutions. World leaders must take immediate and decisive action to avert an impending global crisis and take us one step closer to a safer world in which rights and freedoms are protected,” said Salil Shetty.   http://www.amnesty.org/press-releases/2015/02/global-response-to-atrocities-by-states-and-armed-groups-shameful-and-ineffective/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/0001/2015/en/ Visit the related web page
	View more stories