Last September, we shared the great news that the recognition of the right to water in the Mexican Constitution had been approved by the Senate and sent to local congresses for their vote. Now, we are able to share this update that we have achieved a majority of local congresses that favour this reform.
The Coalition of Mexican Organizations for the Right to Water (COMDA)
Press release, Mexico City, 23 January 2012
Majority of local congresses approve the project to include the right to water in the Mexican Constitution
– The Coalition of Mexican Organizations for the Right to Water (COMDA) celebrates the approval of the project that reforms and adds to the article 4 of the constitution to include the right to water.
– Calls on the Executive to publish the reform in the Official Journal of the Federation without delay.
The Parliamentary Journal of 18 January 2012, announces the approval of the Project of Decree that reforms and adds the article 4 of the constitution establishing that “every person has the right to access, use and sanitation of water for personal and domestic use in sufficient quantity, quality, acceptability and affordability. The State will guarantee this right”. The local congresses that have voted approving this until now are: Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, México, Nayarit, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Zacatecas.
COMDA considers this development as an achievement of the social movement and civil society organizations for the right to water in Mexico and the rest of the world. This reform comes to add to those regarding human rights and the “amparo” (judicial resort) as well as the recognition of the human right to food.
The last step to make this reform a reality is for it to be published by the executive in the Official Journal of the Federation. We demand this is made without delay.
We highlight that the reform includes the obligation for Congress to elaborate in the following 360 days a new water law. In this context, it is fundamental to open a real process of social and citizen participation. Movements and social groups of the country need to get involved in the debates regarding the new law – and the policies that while follow – for their voices to be heard and taken into account. The purpose is that the human right to water becomes a reality to the more than 13 million people in Mexico that do not receive piped water and the many more that suffer every day due to inequitable distribution, scarcity, pollution, privatization, cut-offs and high tariffs. All these translate in violations to the human right to water.
Today we celebrate, but we must not forget that this right, without participation and mobilization, may be useless or even worse if it becomes a tool of corporations and the interest of the powerful. For this reason, we call on the diverse groups and organizations to work together and participate in the challenges that lie ahead.
To read additional blogs on the campaign to include the right to water in the Mexican Constitution, please see http://canadians.org/blog/?p=6737 and http://canadians.org/blog/?p=10457.
