Background:
On the heels of the UN General Assembly having recognized the human rights to water and sanitation, the Independent Expert commissioned by the Human Rights Council to explore the potential human rights to water and sanitation, released her findings in August 2010.
Catarina de Albuquerque’s research explained the human rights to water and sanitation as “implicit in components of the Right to Adequate Standards of Living” per Art. 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Thesis:
Establishment and enforcement of the human rights to water and sanitation is an essential step in meeting many of the standards outlined in the Millennium Development Goals, above and beyond those set forth in target 7.C. that specifically aim to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.” The recognition of human rights to water and sanitation could prove not only an effective tool in forging continual progress towards the MDGs deadline of 2015, but this progress could in turn prove an effective tool for diffusing and perhaps preventing future conflicts based on or related to the scarcity of water resources.
Outline:
-I will begin by examining the legal implications of human rights to water and sanitation for States as set forth by the IE’s findings, including feasibility and expectations.
-Next, I will apply these implications to the current MDGs and explore the efficacy and ramifications for target 7.C as well other applicable goals.
-Finally, I will look at the MDGs with an understanding of the human rights to water and sanitation as a potential venue for the airing of conflicts and/or a tool for diffusing conflicts based on or related to water resources.
Potential Resources:
1.) The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2010
2.) Report of the independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque
Potential Sources Continued:
3.) Water and Sanitation as Human Rights, www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/water/iexpert
4.) The End of Poverty, Economic Possibilities for Our Time, Jeffrey Sachs
5.) Blue Planet Project, HYPERLINK "http://www.blueplanetproject.net" http://www.blueplanetproject.net/
6.) One Water (documentary), HYPERLINK "http://www.onewater.org/stories" http://www.onewater.org/stories
Linking the right to water to the MDGs will provide your paper with exactly the right degree of focus. And using the MDGs and their tight timeline to leverage a right to water is strategically wise. Well done!
Just make sure that you keep to that focus, since the temptation to go off on tangents will be huge. I look forward to reading your draft outline!
Posted by: Michael Byers | 10/06/2010 at 08:27 AM