The Human Right to Water and Sanitation: the Foundation of SDG6

Date of Meeting: 11 Jul 2016

Meeting Organizer: Permanent Mission of Palau to the United Nations

ISJC Staff Present: Luke Cozens

Reporter: Luke Cozens

Which SDG does this topic cover? 6

Type of meeting: Side Event on the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development  

Opening Statement

• Water and sanitation are not mere commodities, neither can they be considered purely a need or a charity, they are a right.
• The Sustainable Development Goals are interdependent – we must leave no one behind.

Palau

• Palau is in a state of emergency because of drought.
• The Human Right to water is made explicit in the preamble [to the Sustainable Development Goals.]
• Water is not only an essential it is one of the most essential elements of life itself. 60-70% of our body weight is made up of water and a human being will use 48 million gallons of water over their lifetime. It is the basis of life and without life all the other SDGs are insignificant.
• Water becomes a security issue.

Special Rapporteur for Human Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation

• Affordability is very important. People in poverty need to be included by the way services are provided.
  • Water should not and need not be an economic burden on the poorest.
• If we are to leave no one behind all development stakeholders will need to cooperate and funders will have to recognize the plans and will of receiving states.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

• Private water utilities create unaffordable pricing.
• There is a lack of free, informed, and prior consent of indigenous communities when water supplies are accessed.

• In Mexico the Supreme Court has ruled that the right to water is violated if a person has access to less than 100 litres a day.
• Oversight of utilities should be placed in the hands of the communities.
• Marginalized communities are disproportionally effected. The most effected are “poor, marginalized, people of colour”
• Rising sea waters contaminate fresh water aquifers.
• We need a human rights based approach.

Fordham University

• Sustainable development cannot be primarily about economic growth or profit, it must be about liberation.
• Economic value does not work for water – it tends to be monopolies, it is non-exchangeable and there are a variety of external factors.
• There is no one size fits all solution or approach.
• Priority should be given to moral manifestos on water.

Blue Planet Project

• We should take a moment to celebrate the inclusion of the right to water in the post-2030 development text.
• A rights-based vision for water is very different to a commodity-based vision.
• The outcome of our neo-liberal economic model is a process of accumulation by dispossession.
• 3 recommendations:
  • Reject commodification
  • Create an enabling environment for public financing: including global tax justice and debt relief.
  • Invest in water use management

Moderator (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs)

• The strong participation of civil society was what made the SDGs so good.

From the Floor

• Grassroots organising is of particular importance.
• There is a problem with acidic/alkaline waters.
• There is a need for mapping at all levels, most importantly at a national level.
• SDG 7.a refers to technologies used in accessing fossil fuels, this would include processes like fracking.
• We need to stop buying bottled water!
• There needs to be a change in mindset that it is not acceptable to make money at any cost.
• We need to develop capacity for disaster preparedness and work within interconnected, complex situations.
• There is a need for a new legal framework around water.
• Water is a gendered issue.

Moderator

• There is a lack of representation/ an interlocutor on water. There is a need for an inter-governmental platform.

Fordham University

• It is highly complex to navigate all the issues.
• We have to deal with the fact that water is treated as an economic good.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

• The impacts of water issues are not gender neutral.

Special Rapporteur for Human Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation

• Monitoring of the SDGs and the indicators is an important challenge.
• We are at risk of proposing privatization as the main way to reach the SDGs.

Palau

• Drink tap water!
• There needs to be a link between the Universal Periodic Review and the human right to water.