ACTION ALERT: Bernier must call for the right to water at the UN
October 1, 2007
On Tuesday October 2, Canada's foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier will give Canada's annual address to the United Nations in New York. His speech will be an opportunity for the Government of Canada to reverse its shameful position opposing the human right to water at the United Nations.
At the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2002 and again in 2003, Canada was the only country to vote against the resolutions on the human right to water. The Canadian government has declared that water is an important issue, and that countries are responsible for ensuring that their own populations have access to water, but Canada has clearly stated that it does not believe that international law should recognize the existence of a right to water.
In November 2002, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights developed General Comment 15, which confirms that the right to water is implicitly contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Canada has refused to support the initiative.
In the most recent Human Rights Council session, Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, acknowledged that the human right to water is also part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The submissions to the High Commissioner by Steven Shrybman for the Blue Planet Project and by project organizer Anil Naidoo, as an expert advisor to the High Commissioner, both stressed the importance of recognizing the human right to water under the Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. Both also referenced the failure of Canada with regard to recognizing the right to water.
Canada's continued opposition to the right to water is an international embarrassment and a disgrace. Our government must recognize that a 2004 Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 97% of Canadians support the right to water
To read more about this issue please see Maude Barlow's "A UN Convention on the Right to Water - An Idea Whose Time Has Come".
In it Maude Barlow writes, "The fact that water is not now an acknowledged human right has allowed decision-making over water policy to shift from the UN and governments toward institutions and organizations that favour the private water companies and the commodification of water."
"A convention on the right to water would serve as a common, coherent body of rules for all nations and clarify that it is the role of the state to provide clean, affordable water to all of its citizens. Such a convention would also safeguard already accepted human rights and environmental principles."
For more information on the Council of Canadians - Blue Planet Project campaign on the 'Right to Water' please go to www.blueplanetproject.net/RightToWater.
TAKE ACTION
Send a letter from our website (below) to Minister Bernier at Bernier.M@parl.gc.ca.
DRAFT LETTER
Minister Bernier,
The Council of Canadians has asked repeatedly that the Harper government support water as a human right and to protect it as a public trust. With your upcoming annual address to the United Nations, I join with the Council to ask that you reverse the Canadian government's position denying the existence of the right to water.
The international movement for the establishment of a right to water is growing. Across the globe, civil society groups, individuals and their communities are taking up the issue as a rallying cry. Thanks to collaborative efforts of vibrant social movements, an increasing number of countries, especially in the global South, have officially stated their support for the establishment of the right to water. Consequently, Canada's position on the right to water is thus increasingly attracting negative attention from the international community.
I remind you that on May 19, 2006, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considered the fourth and fifth periodic reports of Canada on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In this report, the Committee clearly criticizes Canada for not recognizing the right to water:
"The Committee regrets that the State party does not recognize the right to water as a legal entitlement, which is implicitly provided for under articles 11 and 12 of the Covenant, as outlined in the Committee's General Comment no. 15 (2002) on the right to water" (Article 30, p.6).
It also strongly recommends that Canada review its position on the right to water:
"The Committee strongly recommends that the State party review its position on the right to water, in line with the Committee's General Comment no. 15 (2002) on the right to water, so as to ensure equal and adequate access to water for people living in the State party, irrespective of the Province or Territory in which they live or the community to which they belong" (Article 64, p.10).
Please declare your government's support for water as a human right and to swiftly move to enshrine this in national law and in a comprehensive national water policy.
Sincerely,
<your name>
Brent Patterson, Director of Organizing and Campaigns, The Council of Canadians
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