Humanelaw

Water is life! It is the fundamental need of all the lives on earth. Water must be accessible and safe because without water no one can live. As it is a limited natural resource, billions of people still lack access to basic water and sanitation services. In the global water crisis, everyday, many people die from preventable diseases because they do not have access to safe water.

In 2000, World Health Organization found that among world’s 6 billion people, at least 1.1 billion lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion had to live without access to sanitation systems. Since then it is recognized that water itself is an independent human right.

The international recognition for water as a human right came into existence by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission in 2002. The human right to water is nothing but access to water which is safe to drink, sufficient for the community and which can be afforded by masses for domestic and personal uses.

General Comment 15 was the first document which fleshed out the contents of right to water in detail and stated that right to water entitles everyone  safe, sufficient, physically accessible and affordable water for personal as well as domestic uses and it must be enjoyed equally by men and women, without discrimination. An adequate amount of safe and drinking water is necessary to prevent death from dehydration, water-related diseases and provide for consumption, personal and domestic hygienic requirements.

Water and sanitation are vital to everything from health to education to population control. As the population increases and climate changes, the pressure for adequate water and food will increase and will also become a security concern. As the global temperature rises, “water refugees” will increase as well.

The aim of Right to Water is to increase the number of people with safe, affordable and convenient access to drinking water and to safe sanitation. It involves the following things:

The right to water includes the right to adequate sanitation.

1. It doesn’t mean that the water must be free, but the price of water must be affordable.
2. It should be recognized in national legislation and policy.
3. Water is not a commodity or service provided on a charitable basis but it is a legal entitlement.

But, in practice, Right to Water is often not applied because of some reasons like lack of sufficient resources, absence of political will or unawareness of people or government about the implementation of right. Therefore, it requires investigation in the light of practices at the international, national and local level.

Right to water can be applied at personal level by doing the things such as:

1. By conserving water in household, community as well as workplace.
2. By providing information to local groups about right to water and the way in which they can claim their rights.
3. By opposing the privatization of public water utilities as a violation of human rights.
4. By making people aware about the rights with the help of awareness programs.

While considering as a human right, the Right to Water places some responsibilities on government to ensure that all people can enjoy safe, accessible, affordable and sufficient water to allocate sufficient resources that provide safe and affordable water to all at both levels – local and national. The government also has to develop participatory decision-making mechanism to ensure that people have an opportunity to discuss and debate publicly and to vote upon water management options.