WILPF Human Rights Issues:
The Human Right to Water

In November 2006, the newly formed Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted Decision A/HRC/2/104, formally creating the mandate to look at issues of access to water as a human rights issue. This decision established that there would be a special rapporteur assigned to investigate contemporary human rights obstacles related to access to water, and for the Human Rights Council to review the mandate-holder's reports once a year during the Human Rights Council session.

WILPF is a part of a global campaign to examine human rights issues related to access to water and the impact of privatization on local communities. The following resources are useful in organizing around these issues, and have been organized into UN Resources, WILPF Resources, and Bibliographies and Factsheets:

UN Resources

General Comment No. 15 is a document prepared by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that presents evidence for access to water as a human right. This is useful in confronting water privatization issues, because although it is not legally binding, its arguments are well-rooted in international law. It's available on the UN website in the six official UN languages, along with other resources on economic, social, and cultural rights.

In May 2007, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) organized a consultation on human rights and access to water and sanitation, to incite a discourse and give direction to the HRC mandate. A Guide to Discussion, as well as the Summary of Discussions, provide resources that give force to the movement to conceptualize water-related issues in terms of human rights notions based in international law.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report from 2006 discredits commonly argued views that the global water crisis is related to scarcity, and focuses on social and economic factors that result in injustices, poverty, and health and sanitation problems, and ultimately death for many. Includes special contributions from Gordon Brown and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, President Lula, President Carter, and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

The World Health Organization's publication on the Right to Water looks at water from a human rights based approach, contextualizing it within the UN human rights structure, and then discussing how it affects specific communities.

WILPF Resources

WILPF produced a Submission to OHCHR's Consultation on this topic, discussed above. It was produced in conjunction with WILPF members around the globe.

WILPF's US section has produced a study guide, which is a compilation of resources aimed at initiating community discussions on how water is controlled on a local level, who shapes the policies on water distribution and how to influence these politics. It is available for purchase here.

Matrixes, Bibliographies, Fact Sheets

This water matrix provides a list of authoritative quotations that establish access to water as a human rights issue.  This chart provides easy reference to quotations from UN Conferences, Committees and Programs for advocacy work on the right to water. 

The Right to Water Law bibliography, compiled by the Universalist Unitarian Service Committee, documents primary and secondary international law sources on the human right to water. An excellent tool for individuals, groups, and organizations working on an international level, this resource features a compilation of information on various global, regional, and national instruments touching directly or indirectly on the human right to water. It also includes cases from different jurisdictions that touch on different aspects of the human right to water, as well as official reports guidelines and declarations. Scholarly articles, journals, opinions, and websites are also included.

The Center for Economic and Social Rights has produced fact sheets in consideration of water as a human right. The first gives arguments for water to be formally established as a human right, and the other draws on existing international law that presents water as a human right indirectly. These fact sheets produce good arguments to raise discussions about water privatization.