Bangladesh, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, and Uruguay have sent a communiqué to all World Water Forum stakeholders that highlights, “The recognition of the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 64/292 and Human Rights Council resolution 15/9 is a momentous step forward.”
The eleven countries “invite all stakeholders of the World Water Forum, as well as the wider international community to assess whether their existing legislative and policy frameworks are in line with the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, and to repeal, amend or adapt them, when necessary, in order to meet human rights standards.”
The statement by this ‘Blue Group’ of countries may be seen as a diplomatically-stated criticism of the Ministerial Declaration of the World Water Forum released yesterday. That Ministerial Declaration has been condemned by the global water justice movement for failing to explicitly recognize the human right to water and sanitation and to commit to the full implementation of these rights.
Three of these countries – Germany, Spain and Uruguay – attended the water justice movement-organized government-civil society meeting on Monday afternoon in Marseille. Additionally, Egypt had expressed interest in our meeting, but was unable to attend. It is also clear that Bolivia – which attended our meeting – opposes the Ministerial Declaration.
The Guardian UK reported this afternoon, “Governments have been accused of backtracking on their commitments after ministers at the World Water Forum were charged with failing to define water and sanitation as human rights. In a ministerial declaration, eighty-four government ministers and dozens of other national representatives endorsed the five-page statement calling for a ‘new approach’ to water policy ahead of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development in June.”
“Tuesday’s declaration said: ‘We commit to accelerate the full implementation of the human rights obligations relating to access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation by all appropriate means as part of our efforts to overcome the water crisis at all levels.’ Campaigners say this is not the same thing as formally defining water and sanitation as human rights. The declaration’s language, they argue, leaves potential loopholes for countries to dodge their legal and financial obligations to uphold these rights.”
“Meera Karunananthan, national water co-ordinator for the Council of Canadians, a civil society organisation, said that while the declaration is not politically binding, it risks sending mixed signals. ‘The fear is that countries can now say this is the latest international language,’ she said. …Karunananthan denounced the World Water Forum for its lack of transparency. She noted there are no signatures on the ministerial declaration, making it difficult to understand who endorsed it.”
