Op-Ed Submission to the Globe and Mail

On July 28, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted overwhelmingly, for the first time, to adopt a resolution recognizing the human right to drinking water and sanitation. One hundred and twenty two countries voted in favour of the resolution, none opposed and 41 abstained. The General Assembly also voted to call on member states to provide financial resources and technology to help realize this right in poorer countries.

Water was not included in the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights as at the time, as no one could imagine it would ever be a problem.  When decades later it became clear that a deadly combination of poverty, dirty water and water depletion in the global South was killing untold millions of people, many human rights and development groups started demanding that access to water be added to the list of fundamental rights.

However, by then it had become clear that the growing demand for water was rendering it a potentially valuable commodity in the world and a strong set of adversaries came together to oppose any language of rights at the UN. These forces included the World Bank, which was promoting a program of water privatization in the developing world; the big water utility companies benefiting from this program; and the aid agencies of some big northern countries whose governments had bought into a market model of development. Canada led the opposition to any progress on the right to water at the UN, even weakening the mandate of the Independent Expert appointed by the Human Rights Council two years ago to study and report on the situation.

Fed up with the delay and obfuscation, a number of countries from the global South led by Bolivia, whose glaciers are melting due to climate change, decided to put a clear up or down vote to the General Assembly and force every country in the world to say where it stands on this most basic of rights. To its shame, Canada was one of the countries, along with the U.S., the UK, Australia and New Zealand, who led the opposition to the resolution. Some tried to get the sponsoring countries to water the resolution down by removing sanitation or adding the words “access to” water and sanitation, which would have meant that governments only had to provide access to these services not the services themselves to those without means. Others, including Canada, proposed a “consensus” resolution that would have just re-stated the status quo and the need to wait for the report of the Independent Expert. When it was clear they could not get the support for their alternatives, the “big five” simply abstained.

This vote marked an historic landmark in the fight for water justice in several ways. Countries representing 5.4 billion people – the vast majority of the population on earth – voted in favour of the human right to water and sanitation. As well, the language of the resolution itself set the gold standard for all future deliberations on the right to water. While a resolution is not binding, it does nevertheless demonstrate the intent of the General Assembly, and when the time comes for a more binding Declaration or Convention, the clear and unequivocal wording of this resolution will serve as the template.

Finally it was important because there was a clear split in the powerful countries of the global North. Many “First World” countries broke with the naysayers and voted for the resolution. These include Germany, Spain and France. Moreover, most emerging powerhouse countries, including China, India, Russia and Brazil, voted in favour. This demonstrates a global shift in influence away from these once dominant Anglo powers and their model of development for the world.

When Pablo Solon, Bolivian Ambassador to the UN, stood up to introduce the resolution, he referred to a new report on diarrhoea showing that every three and a half seconds, a child dies in the global South from dirty water. Then he held up his fingers and counted one, two, three and paused. The great hall of the General Assembly went dead quiet. Then the General Assembly voted.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. She served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63^rd President of the UN General Assembly.

One Response

1. Nigel Barriffe says:

   October 30, 2010 at 10:43 pm

   Thank you for sharing this article. The anecdote about Pablo Solon gave me chills. In ‘Our Water Common’ it said that more children die every year from dirty water than war, malaria, HIV/AIDS and traffic accidents together.

   …In the last decade, the number of children killed by diarrhea exceeded the number of people killed in all armed conflicts since the Second World War.

   …Every eight seconds, a child dies from water-borne disease.

   …The average North American uses almost six hundred liters (150 gallons) of water a day. The average African uses just six.

   …A new born baby in the global North consumes between forty and seventy times more water than a baby in the global South.

   The solution?

   Vandana Shiva calls it “Earth Democracy” and defines it as a system that puts people and nature above commerce and profit, emerging out of a desire to sustain life for future generations.

   One love,

   Nigelb

   Reply