Change the World

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

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

Rights or Wrongs? Canada and International Human Rights

 

 

A Public Workshop with UBC Graduate Students

Gulf Islands Secondary School, Multipurpose Room, January 8 & 9, 2011 

Saturday, January 8:

2:30-2:45 PM Introduction and Welcomes

Pablo Antezana Quiroga: "Water, development, and the public-private debate"

Project proposal

Worldwide, approximately one in eight people lack potable water. The situation of lack of sanitation is far worse, for it affects 2.6 billion people, or 40% of the global population. Every year, 3 and a half million people die of waterborne illness. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of death among children under five. The lack of access to potable water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and smallpox combined. 

Pablo Antezana Quiroga: Right to Water (Project Proposal)

Worldwide, approximately one in eight people lack potable water. The situation of lack of sanitation is far worse, for it affects 2.6 billion people, or 40% of the global population. Every year, 3 and a half million people die of waterborne illness. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of death among children under five. The lack of access to potable water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and smallpox combined. 

The International Human Right to Water; Why Canada Should Care

Group Project (Abstract and Goals):

Based on our findings over the course of our independent research, our group will make an informed argument as to whether or not Canada should recognize the international human right to water. The recognition of this right could imply that governments must ensure access to safe water for drinking, food preparation and sanitation, for their own citizens and potentially for those of other countries; that water sources are protected from contamination and over-use; and that water is declared as a public trust and delivered as a public service on a not-for-profit basis.

Inherent in our recommendation will be a discussion on the implications, both domestically as well as within the international community, of Canada’s recognition of this right and the motivations currently driving the country’s continued opposition to this concept.* This may include potential financial gains from the privatization of Canada’s water resources, the responsibility to provide bulk exports of water to countries in need, the obligations to provide First Nations communities with access to clean water and current water usage in the Alberta Tar Sands project. 

Our academically-supported recommendation could take the shape of a draft private member’s bill, outlining the argument in support of Canada’s recognition of the international human right to water.

*In a recent vote in the UN General Assembly, Canada abstained from a resolution recognizing “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right”. 

Pablo Antezana Quiroga: Enforcing the right to water

More than one billion people inhabiting the planet, one-sixth of the world's population lack daily access to the vital element: water. In Latin America, more than 75 million people go through this situation. More than 2 billion men, women and children around the world (116 millions of Latin Americans) also lack adequate drainage and sanitation.