Water, development, and the public-private debate (Draft Paper)

Pablo Antezana Quiroga, "Water, development, and the public-private debate" (19 Nov 2010)

Comments

[Gihan]

Pablo,
The following was communicated to me by an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as the official position of the Canadian government on this issue. You might find it useful;

“The non-binding resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly on July 28, 2010, and the UN Human Rights Council on September 24, 2010, claim to recognize a human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation. However, they do not sufficiently set out the scope or content of the right nor the related obligations of states with regard to such a right. The Government of Canada remains of the view that a general right to safe drinking water and sanitation is not explicitly codified under international human rights law. In Canada’s view, it is premature to declare a human right to water and sanitation without allowing states the benefit of full deliberation based on, inter alia, states’ own internal processes and the Independent Expert’s findings.

Canada recognises that there are human rights obligations relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation and is committed to meeting its water related human rights obligations under relevant treaties to which Canada is a state party, while asserting that its international obligations in no way limit its sovereign right to manage its own resources. Canada recognises that international watercourse law and transboundary water issues have been explicitly left aside in any assessments of the relationship between access to safe drinking water and human rights. The Government of Canada will continue to monitor closely international developments and constructively engage in international negotiations to help clarify the relationship between access to safe drinking water and human rights.

Canada acknowledges that much of the population of the developing world lacks access to basic water and sanitation and has taken significant steps to help ameliorate this situation. The Government of Canada committed, as part of the global community, to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including the goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 (Goal 7). Canada has also endorsed high-level bodies established to promote the right to water and sanitation as well as statements to this end, including the G-8 Action Plan on Water (2003) and the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (2004). As part of its support for the G-8 Action Plan on Water, and Goal 7, the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has invested approximately $209 million in the areas of water supply and sanitation worldwide between 2006 and 2009.”