Canada must support the right to water

Maude Barlow, Meera Karunananthan, Anil Naidoo
Embassy
July 21, 2010

Canada should be denied the seat it is seeking on the UN Security Council if the Harper government obstructs a crucial upcoming vote on the right to water at the General Assembly.

The UN General Assembly is poised to vote on a draft resolution declaring the human right to "safe and clean drinking water and sanitation" that was presented by the Bolivian government and has been endorsed by many other countries.

The Council of Canadians and other organizations fear that Canada is working behind the scenes to weaken the resolution before it goes for a vote at the end of the July, as it has on previous occasions at the UN Human Rights Council.

This is the first time the UN General Assembly has been asked directly to deal with this issue and presents a huge test for the world.

When the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights was written, no one could foresee a day when water would be a contested area. But in 2010, it is not an exaggeration to say that the lack of access to clean water is the greatest human rights violation in the world. This would be one of the most important things the UN has done since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Canadians need to be aware that the Harper government is one of the primary obstacles to the international recognition of the right to water.

For several years, international and local community groups fighting for water justice have been calling for the UN to recognize once and for all that water and sanitation are human rights. We're calling on Harper not to try to modify the language of the resolution from rights to vague obligations. It is a loophole that some governments, like those of Prime Minister Harper, want to create to avoid accountability.

A 2008 poll by Environics Research Group found that 88 per cent of Canadians want the federal government to recognize clean drinking water as a basic human right. Yet the Harper government has consistently obstructed progress on the right to water at the UN. The Harper government still seems oblivious to the realities of increasing water scarcity and climate change.

It's clear most Canadians support the right to water, so the question is why doesn't the prime minister?

Is it because the recognition of the right to water would limit the exploitation of Indigenous people's territories around the world by mining corporations, the majority of which are based in Canada?

Is it because, the recognition of the right to water would expose the complete absence of a federal water policy in Canada, which leaves our lakes, rivers and streams open to bulk exports, under NAFTA.

Is it because the proposed Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement would open public water services in Canada to Big Water corporations like Suez and Veolia, which are based in Europe?

Is it because Harper is using a loophole in the Fisheries Act, called Schedule 2, to turn lakes in Canada into mining dumps for toxic waste?

Canadians have a right to know the answer to these questions.

Recognizing the intransigence of the Canadian government on this issue, the Council of Canadians and other social justice groups were in Brussels last week to urge EU member states to support the resolution on the right to water at the United Nations General Assembly.

We delivered a letter in Brussels last week to members of the European Parliament calling on the EU to support the resolution. A growing number of MEPs have now agreed to lead a campaign within the EU to have their parliament endorse the UN General Assembly resolution for the human right to water and sanitation.

We need Canadian MPs to apply the same kind of pressure here.

It's time politics caught up with reality. Nearly two billion people live in water-stressed areas of the world and three billion have no running water within a kilometre of their homes. It's time leaders of the world formally recognize water as essential to life and a human right. And it's time our members of Parliament held Harper's feet to the fire on the right to water.