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Ottawa Turns Off
Tap On Right To Water
By Maude Barlow
23/03/08 "The
Star" - -- -"The Canadian government is at it
again."
That was the opening line in an urgent email we received this
week from an international NGO working to promote the right to
water at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE) had just
participated in a session where the Canadian government had
undermined a key resolution tabled by Germany and Spain at the
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on March
10 that calls for water and sanitation to be recognized as a
human right.
The resolution, which will be voted on within the week, is
currently being debated at the UNHRC session in Geneva that ends
on March 28. Canada has presented numerous objections that have
been echoed by the United States.
As it stands, Canada and the United States are the only two
countries to go on record at the United Nations to oppose the
right to water.
Canada is a member of the UNHRC until 2009; the United States is
not an elected member but is allowed to engage under the rules
of the Council.
The joint resolution promoted by Germany and Spain aims to
establish a "special rapporteur" with the mandate to provide
guidance on the right to water and sanitation, identify best
practices, investigate country situations and promote the right
internationally.
This follows a report by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, stating that "specific, dedicated and
sustained attention to safe drinking water and sanitation is
currently lacking at the international level" and recommending
that access to safe drinking water and sanitation be recognized
as a human right.
Canada is working to weaken the resolution by demanding that
references to the right to water and sanitation be removed and
that the scope be reduced. Canada wants the proposed position of
"special rapporteur" to be downgraded to "independent expert"
serving for only one year instead of the proposed three years.
Canada is also opposing visits by this expert to individual
countries and the granting of a mandate enabling them to clarify
the content of the right to water and sanitation.
This is the third time in six years that member nations of the
UN have pushed for recognition of the human right to water. On
each occasion, Canada has rejected the efforts to have water
recognized as a right.
At a 2002 meeting, Canada stood alone among 53 countries by
voting against the appointment of a special rapporteur on water.
More recently, Canada reacted negatively to an October 2006
resolution of the UN Human Rights Council to conduct a study on
the right to water.
The debate occurs as communities around the world observe
today's 15th UN World Water Day.
The Liberal party defended the Harper government's position in
the media earlier this week, claiming that a right to water
would make Canada vulnerable to bulk water exports. This is
utterly untrue.
All transboundary water issues were explicitly excluded from the
scope of the resolution. A human rights convention is between a
government and its citizens. Recognition of the right to water
in no way affects a country's sovereign right to manage its own
resources.
The reality is the resolution would be at odds with the North
American Free Trade Agreement, which defines water as a good and
an investment. The real issue is that the Liberals, like the
Conservatives, refuse to reopen NAFTA to remove water. They
would rather deny Canada and the world the right to water.
Recognizing water as a human right is vital to ensuring that
governments address the reality of more than a billion people
who are currently without access to clean water.
The fact that water is not acknowledged as a right has allowed
decision-making over water policy to slip away from the UN and
governments toward institutions promoting water privatization,
which has harmed the environment and cut poor communities off
from their water supplies around the world.
This motion by Germany and Spain presents new hope for groups
who want to see an international solution to the global water
crisis. Negotiations on the issue are expected to conclude this
week and the Council of Canadians has responded to the call of
our international allies by mobilizing thousands across the
country to demand that our government reverse its position.
We will be marking World Water Day by working to promote the
right to water in nearly 40 communities across the country.
Sadly, our government seems determined to mark the day by
denying that same right.
Maude Barlow is the chair of the Council of Canadians and author
of Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle
for the Right to Water.
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