Access to drinking water and sanitation is now a Human Right. At the end of September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council declared that access to water was included in the "right to an adequate standard of living", as recognized by several international treaties.
This is a major recognition of the fact that four billion men, women and children currently have no access to drinking water and sanitation. Even though these changes will not be implemented immediately and represent long-term goals, this declaration will motivate public authorities to act and mobilise their institutional, human and financial resources. The target is now to exceed the Millennium Development Goals and offer populations a universal service.
In conjunction with this declaration, the United Nations also endorsed a certain number of issues associated with the right to water: "Water must be drinkable, accessible, available and affordable, and supplied without any discrimination." Water therefore comes at a price: the price must be affordable and public authorities must pay particular attention to ensuring this.
Another official decision decreed that public authorities are entitled to entrust the provision of water services to private companies under the scope of Public-Private Partnerships, or to public companies or NGOs.
To implement this right universally for all, two further stages are still required:
- Each State must appoint a local public authority and determine its remit and resources.
- This authority will then designate an operator to put its instructions into action.
It will be important check the correct application of this right to guarantee its universality.
In France, this right has been recognized via the Law in 2006. However, a few particularly difficult specific cases are still outstanding. A discussion on the effective implementation of this right will be tackled during the World Water Forum in Marseilles in March 2012.
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