The human right to water
Abstract
More than a billion people in the developing world lack safe drinking water — an amenity those in the developed world take for granted. Nearly three billion people live without access to adequate sanitation systems necessary for reducing exposure to water-related diseases. The failure of the international aid community, nations and local organizations to satisfy these basic human needs has led to substantial, unnecessary and preventable human suffering. This paper argues that access to a basic water requirement is a fundamental human right implicitly and explicitly supported by international law, declarations and State practice. Governments, international aid agencies, nongovernmental organizations and local communities should work to provide all humans with a basic water requirement and to guarantee that water as a human right. By acknowledging a human right to water and expressing the willingness to meet this right for those currently deprived of it, the water community would have a useful tool for addressing one of the most fundamental failures of 20th century development.
- Publication:
-
Water Policy
- Pub Date:
- January 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S1366-7017(99)00008-2
- Bibcode:
- 1998WaPol...1..487G
- Keywords:
-
- Fresh water;
- Human rights;
- Basic water requirement;
- International law;
- State practice