July 2, 2012: Panel 2E - The Expansion of Human Rights to Water, Sanitation, and Health Protection

The Expansion of Human Rights to Water, Sanitation, and Health Protection Video

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:30:00 PDT

Rio +20 and the Right to Water: A South African Perspective

Michael Kidd — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:30:00 PDT

Recent multilateral negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC treaty process have brought little significant progress in meeting the objective of mitigating global climate change. There is even doubt that the mitigation goals that are on the table for agreement will lead to the reduction of temperature rise that is necessary to avoid serious adverse consequences. In this paper, I aim to explore the obstacles, both structural and political, in international law efforts to bring about climate change mitigation. I propose that a prerequisite for meaningful greenhouse gas reduction is lifestyle change and that many of the mechanisms that have found support (albeit not universal) in the climate change arena thus far are little more than stalling tactics postponing the inevitable hard choices that have to be made. The paper will examine whether international law is suited to stimulating the necessary change in lifestyles and consequent climate change mitigation, or whether international efforts would better be focused on adaptation and addressing international legal challenges that will be faced by a future climate-changed world, such as sovereignty issues facing states that are likely to be inundated by sea level rise and similar concerns. In the course of the paper, I will consider whether mitigation could be encouraged by alternatives to multilateral agreement such as litigation.

The Emerging Right to Sanitation: A Socio-Economic or Environmental Right?

Loretta Feris — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:30:00 PDT

In July 2010 the UN General Assembly for the first time recognised a right to sanitation and declared the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.[1] This is an important development in the global recognition of the right to sanitation, in view of the fact that worldwide more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation.[2] In addition, a handful of states have also recognised the right of sanitation in their respective Constitutions, either expressly, inclusive of the right to water or inclusive of another right such as the right to housing or the right to life. These developments are all part of the global emergence of a rights based approach to sanitation. Whilst the UN resolution calls on governments to undertake a number of obligations vis-à-vis this right, determining the legal content and consequences of the right in international and domestic law still requires substantial effort.

This paper investigates the emergence of this relatively new right in international and domestic law and interrogates some of the evolving trends, including the development of a rights based approach around sanitation, its connection to the right to water and its structuring as a socio-economic right. It problematises the noticeable absence of environmental requirements, such as integrated water resource management in the predominantly socio-economic approach to this right. It finally concludes that a pure socio-economic approach is not environmentally sustainably and that no state can guarantee the right to sanitation if it does not also take some form of legal responsibility for ensuring the sustainable management of its water resources.

[1] The human right to water and sanitation UN General Assembly A/64/L.63/Rev.1, 26 July 2010 (hereafter UN Resolution).

[2] Ibid at 2.

Can the Protection of the Right to a Healthy Environment Contribute to the Implementation of the Right to Access Water and Sanitation? The Case of Columbia

Jimena Murillo Chavarro — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:30:00 PDT

A number of important issues will be dealt with at Rio+20, among them water related problems; such as, access to safe drinking water and protection of water resources. When talking about sustainable development it is essential to bear in mind hand by hand development activities and fundamental rights. Hence, we will focus on human rights that can assist in the achievement of these development goals.

Nowadays it is understood that there is a strong connection between the environment and people; therefore, the enjoyment of some of human rights, such as right to life and health, depend on the protection of the environment and guarantee of good environmental conditions. For instance, alteration and more precisely pollution to the environment (water, air, and soil) affect some human rights, such as the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and the right to an adequate standard of living.

As a result, the right to a healthy environment has been recognized in some international human rights treaties, as well as national Constitutions. For instance, in South America, some of the countries that have embraced in their Constitution the right to a healthy environment are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru. Thus, giving to this right a higher hierarchy and allowing citizens to claim the protection of this right.

Given that human rights are interdependent and indivisible, the improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others (whether civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights, or collective rights). Therefore, I want to analyse whether the right to a healthy environment can contribute in the advancement of the right to water, and the protection of water resources.

Accordingly, in this paper I will analyse, through the particular study case of Colombia, whether the constitutional right to a healthy environment can contribute in the advancement of the right to access water, which has not been explicitly recognized in the national legislation.

Accordingly, I will first analyse the judicial mechanisms available in Colombia for the protection of the right to a healthy environment. Then I will review where the right to water stands in the Colombian national legislation. Finally I will examine some Court decisions that will help us to conclude whether the protection of the right to a healthy environment has contributed in the protection of the right to access water in this particular country.