water – a human right
Humanity
is at a crossroads and billions of people
face a grim, waterscarce future. Of the 4
billion cases of diarrhea each year, 2.2
million people die unnecessarily. 6 million
people have been blinded by Trachoma. 200
million people are infected with
schistosomiasis. Intestinal worms affect
10% of the population of the developing
world. Preventable waterrelated diseases
kill 5 million people every year, 4 million
of them children. Today, an estimated 1.2
billion people lack access to a safe water
supply and 2.4 billion do not have adequate
sanitation.
These are disturbing statistics, but
they are not irreversible. Technology
exists and resources are there to deal with
this crisis. A fraction of the trillion
dollars a year governments spend on the
military would make it possible to go well
beyond the UN Millennium Development Goals
on clean water and sanitation. Investment
in water, unlike war, would save an
estimated 125 billion dollars a year in
direct medical expenses and costs
associated with lower economic productivity
related to preventable water-related
diseases.
Unfortunately, the solution chosen by
governments does not focus on increasing
public investment. Instead, international
policy makers, lobbied heavily by the
private sector, are facilitating increased
private investment and management as the
way out of the crisis. The European Union,
for example, is trying to reclassify water
within the WTO General Agreement on Trade
and Services (GATS) so it is defined as a
service that can be bought and sold.
International Financial Institutions
promote water privatization as they often
add it as a condition for new loans to, and
debt relief for, developing countries.
Meanwhile, corporations involved in the
management and distribution of water
haven’t lived up to the expectations placed
upon them by governments. Examples of
corporate crime are rampant. Bribes,
unaffordable increases in water prices for
the world’s poorest, cutting off water
supplies and under-investment in water
infrastructure, distribution and quality
are examples of corporate misconduct for
which they need to be held accountable.
Globally, there are many grassroots
campaigns on the issue of water
privatization, including several carried
out by Friends of the Earth groups.
However, ongoing struggles against water
privatization in countries such as Uruguay,
the Philippines, South Africa and Bolivia
all need continued support.
Friends of the Earth International’s
affiliate, the Council of Canadians, has
begun the Blue Planet Project, an
international effort to protect the world’s
freshwater from the growing threats of
trade and privatization. At its core is the
Treaty Initiative to Share and Protect the
Global Water Commons. It is a call to
protect water as something we all share,
and to recognize water as one of those
common elements that are too precious to
turn over to private greed and the faceless
global marketplace. It is a commitment for
ourselves, our communities, and our
representatives to pursue new and better
solutions than those that threaten the
earth and our fundamental human rights.
Access to water is a human right.
However, privatization threatens people’s
access to clean water. Friends of the Earth
will not accept the right to this resource,
so fundamental to life, being taken away
from the people. Only by recognizing water
as a human right can we assure water
justice now and into the future.
more information
Blue Planet Project
