For Immediate Release
March 19, 2009
UN President tells corporate-controlled World Water
Forum "water is a human right"
Istanbul / March 19, 2009 - The President of the United Nations General
Assembly has told delegates at the World Water Forum in Istanbul that, "We must work quickly to guarantee that access to drinking water
constitutes a fundamental right of all peoples..."
In a speech delivered by his senior advisor on water Maude Barlow, UN
president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said, "Those who are committed to
the privatization of water, making it a commodity like oil, are denying
people a human right as basic as the air we breathe."
Ms. Barlow, who is also the national chairperson of the Council of
Canadians, delivered the president's message to the People's Water
Forum, a counter-forum being held by hundreds of civil society members
from nearly 70 countries whose voices have not been at the WWF. The
speech was later released to the World Water Forum, which is being
attended by 20,000 delegates from 150 countries.
The UN president also questioned the legitimacy of the forum itself. His
speech stated, "The forum's orientation is profoundly influenced by
private water companies. This is evident by the fact that both the
president of the World Water Council and the alternate president are
deeply involved with provision of private, for-profit, water services."
He added that future forums should, "conduct their deliberations under
the auspices of the United Nations."
D'Escoto Brockmann also criticized the World Water Forum's draft
Ministerial Declaration, which sees water as a "human need" rather than
a human right. He said, "As it stands, this important statement
undermines the efforts of those who are struggling for access to clean
water and sanitation."
"Global water justice advocates welcome this being the last World Water
Forum in its present format," adds Barlow. "There is an urgent need for
an accountable and legitimate global water forum to be held regularly to
address the grave threats facing our blue planet."
The next World Water Forum is scheduled to take place in 2012.
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Contact:
(Ottawa) Dylan Penner, Media Officer, The Council of Canadians,613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
(Istanbul) Meera Karunananthan, Water Campaigner, The Council of
Canadians, 613-355-2100, meera@canadians.org
