Click on map to go to FAN regional network pages
|
|
Right to Water
UN Human Rights Council moves forward on Right to Water and Sanitation
On 28 March 2008, the Human Rights Council adopted by consensus a resolution sponsored by Germany and Spain (and more than 40 co-sponsors) establishing an Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
This means that the UN human rights system now has a separate mechanism exclusively dedicated to issues related to the right to water and sanitation. The resolution also confirms that governments have obligations to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation under international human rights law
Find out more (pdf)
Background to the legal basis (pdf) Netherlands formally recognise the Human Right to Water
In the opening of the 7th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 3 March 2008, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, announced the Netherlands is to recognise water as a human right.
He stressed that merely recognising the right would not solve the issue but is a powerful incentive to increase access to water for the poor.
Find out more Why Canada must recognise the Right to Water and Sanitation
COHRE's policy paper emphasizes that the right to water and sanitation is already legally recognised in international law, that the right to water and sanitation does not require Canada to share its water resources with other countries and that the Canadian government’s position opposition to references to the right to water and sanitation undermines the efforts of people without access to water and sanitation to hold their governments to account.
Find out more FAN takes part in Right to Water Meeting in Germany, 21 -22 October
Danielle Morley, FAN Coordinator, spoke at an International Conference on the Right to Water organised by the UN High Commission for Human Rights and the German Foreign Office which aims to foster an ongoing debate on the Human Right to Water.
Download the full paper R To W Update: Village Council Rejects Coca-Cola License
Coca-Cola has been unable to obtain a license for one of its largest bottling plants in India. The plant shut in March 2004 due to community pressure.
Earlier in June the village council had offered Coca-Cola a license valid for three months with thirteen conditions which the company declined.
Read more
Read FAN member Right to Water case study R to W Update: Belgium government recognises Right to Water
In April 2005, the Belgian federal government adopted a "water
resolution" recognising that access to safe water as a human right should be included in the Belgian constitution.
Email for more information FAN Hosts stall on 'Protecting the Right to Water' at the European Social Forum, October 2004 |
|
|