• PDF / 321,127 Bytes
• 16 Pages / 439.37 x 666.14 pts Page_size
• 31 Downloads / 246 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT

---

Introduction Nandita Singh

Abstract This chapter introduces the reader to the purpose and contents of the book. Beginning with a brief outline of history and concept of the human right to water, it argues that the current scenario indicates that measures for implementation of the right are not always able to deliver the goods as planned. Therefore, the central question is identified as: How to enable translation of the human right to water from concept to reality? The central contention in the chapter and hence the book is that human right to water questions cannot be addressed through mere legal formulations. Instead, if the interest lies in enabling people to realize their right, then the need is to look beyond law, linking it to the interdisciplinary fields of water resources management and water governance. Toward this end, concepts of “realization” and “implementation” of the right are differentiated, and the relevance of the “context” of action is explained. The chapter concludes with a description of the aim and contents of the book. Keywords Human right to water • Realization of Human Right to Water • Water supply programs • Water quality • Climate change and water • Bottled water industry • Privatization in water sector • Transboundary water governance

Water is a key resource for human survival and development. It is indispensable to sustain life and health and fundamental to the dignity of all. Yet 750 million people around the world lack access to safe water (WHO and UNICEF JMP 2014), a number which raises significant concern. In order to address this crisis, the international community has increasingly recognized that access to water must be considered within a human rights framework. Water was recognized as a right for the first time in 1977 at the United Nations (UN) Water Conference at Mar del Plata which declared that “All peoples, whatever their stage of development and social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs” (UN 1977).

N. Singh (*) Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 N. Singh (ed.), The Human Right to Water, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40286-4_1

1

2

N. Singh

In December 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) set out an agenda to end discrimination against women, with explicit reference to water. Article 14(2)(h) of CEDAW provides: “States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas,…….. shall ensure to such women the right: … (h) To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communication” (CEDAW 1979). In November 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) explicitly mentioned water. Article 24(2) of the Convention states: