Victory in Uruguay!

by Maude Barlow

On October 31, the people of Uruguay, a small South American country of just 3 million people, went to the polls. Not only did they elect a new centre-left government that day, but they also made history by being the first people in the world to vote on the human right to water.

By an almost two-thirds majority, the people of Uruguay voted to amend their constitution to ensure not only that access to piped water and sanitation is a fundamental human right available to everyone, but also that in the creation of water policies social considerations take precedence over economic considerations. Further, the constitution must now reflect that the “public service of water supply for human consumption will be served exclusively and directly by state legal persons” – that is to say, not by for-profit companies.

This referendum is a historic development and will form the basis of a campaign for a United Nations treaty on the right to water. Only two other countries have attempted to reflect the right to water in a legal framework. When apartheid was defeated in South Africa and Nelson Mandela became President, he amended the constitution to define water as a human right. However, the amendment was silent on how this new “right” would be delivered. Before long, the World Bank convinced the African National Congress to let Suez, the big French water transnational, come in and run the water systems on a for-profit basis. As a result, over 10 million South Africans have had their water access cut in the last several years due to their inability to pay.

The other country to recently pass legislation is the Netherlands, which in 2003 passed a law allowing only “qualified legal persons” - that is, entities that are 100 per cent public or publicly owned - to deliver drinking water. While this law is important, particularly as the European Union is trying so hard to have water included in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) to the benefit of its water corporations, it does not affirm the human right to water. The referendum in Uruguay is historic precisely because it includes the best of the legislation from both the Netherlands and South Africa and because the people actually voted directly for it.

The referendum in Uruguay was the result of a two-year grassroots fight led by a network called the National Commission for the Defence of Water and Life. It was composed of the main trade unions, human rights groups, and environmental organizations, including Friends of the Earth Uruguay. However, this fight also brought unprecedented support from the
international civil society water movement, which provided funding, resource materials, a massive number of e-mails and letters of support, and visiting delegations who then took the story of this struggle back to their home countries.

I had the privilege of visiting twice, first in January 2003 and again in early October 2004, just before the referendum was held. I found a team of people inspired by their fight, even as many are personally reeling from the aftermath of the two-year-old currency crisis that destroyed much of the middle class of Latin America. At the volunteer centre where the heart of this campaign was fought, people were crammed six or eight to a room, sharing one or two computers held together by duct tape. Everywhere there was the easy laughter and the obvious love for one another that comes from people sharing a common struggle. I looked around at my friends - Alberto, Maria Selva, Adrianna and so many more - and remembered why I chose a life of activism. Referendum posters were everywhere throughout the city. There was an excitement in the air and great pride when I told the mayor and the provincial assembly (all supporting the referendum) that they were being watched around the world and that the vote they were about to hold would be historic.

When I was in Montevideo, I also met one of my heroes - the great Latin American poet and writer, Eduardo Galeano, who was a fierce supporter of the referendum and helped the local committee greatly. We exchanged books and hugs.

The night before I left I spoke to hundreds of people at a big public forum, assuring them that their work had been worth it and that we would take their constitutional amendment and use it as the basis of an international campaign. But the standing ovation and tears came when I ended my speech with the words affirming that on October 31 “todos somos Uruguayanas” - we are all Uruguayans.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians and co-founder of The Blue Planet project.