Joshua Freedman: Is water a human rights issue?

The most fundamental, and practical purpose of enshrining an international legal contract of human rights has been to protect the vulnerable and the exploited. It is necessary then, before beginning any debate on the potentiality of enshrining access to water as a fundamental international human rights, to identify precisely who, due to vulnerability, have been exploited from ingesting and accessing the daily amounts of water necessary for both biological maintenance, and sanitation. The facts are quite clear; water scarcity disproportionately effects developing world countries, and the rural and urban poor elements of their population. Up to 30% of all unnatural deaths in the developing world can be attributed to water related causes and upward of 80% of all illnesses in the developing world are the result of water-borne diseases and contamination. These numbers are startling, not only does the lack of access to freshwater sources post the most vital and detrimental of immediate health risks, but the secondary effects of individuals relying on contaminated sources of water to meet their basic needs is in itself a humanitarian crises. Despite the severity of this situation however we must invariably ask two questions: I) Is this a human rights issue, and II) Can a human rights approach actually alleviate this suffering?

It is not the intention of the paper I am proposing here to engage in a lengthy normative discussion. Despite the ethical and moral connotations, recognizing water as a fundamental human right is ultimately an issue of opinion. It is not my intention to engage in this debate. Rather, it is my intention to discern whether or not lack of access to freshwater is a human rights issue through the interpretation of principles mentioned earlier in this prospectus; can we attribute an individuals inability to access water to their vulnerable status, and the exploitable actions of an outside actor? If this is not the case, what basis do we have that a human rights approach will solve what might ultimately be a development issue. Furthermore, while water scarcity can certainly be attributed to instances of exploitation, it is also heavily influenced by climate change as well as trans-boundary sovereignty issues.

It is my hope that this paper can serve to answer not only questions concerning water, but broader humanitarian issues which straddle but are not firmly entrenched in the human rights discipline.

Comments

[Michael Byers]

You're delving into a fascinating issue here. Are there human rights of access to necessary elements of life (air, water) that are separate from the panoply of social, economic and cultural rights normally deemed to be "aspirational" within the human rights cannon? And who are these rights opposable to; who holds the corresponding responsibilities? Nation-states? Water corporations? The international community? Is the right to water a "positive" or "negative" right, i.e. does it require state action or inaction (the former being more difficult to compel)? What is actually added to development efforts by identifying water as a human right? I look forward to reading your outline!