On July 28, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a historic resolution recognizing the human rights to water and sanitation as “essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life.” This paper examines what has transpired in the five years since these resolutions were adopted and what remains to be done.
English Este documento examina tres estrategias utilizadas a nivel nacional por coaliciones de movimientos sociales en El Salvador con el fin de hacer frente a la crisis del agua al desafiar sus causas sistémicas. Estas estrategias incluyen: una prohibición nacional de la minería metálica, una enmienda constitucional que reconoce el derecho humano al agua y…
As the world’s biggest water profiteer, the French multinational Veolia Environment has had to reinvent its corporate image several times over the decades because of corruption scandals, human rights violations and bad labour practices. Today, Veolia continues to seek new markets outside its traditional base in Europe. The company owns hundreds of subsidiaries, including Veolia…
Español This paper examines three national-level strategies championed by social movement coalitions in El Salvador in order to address the freshwater crisis by challenging its systemic causes. These strategies include: a national ban on metal mining, a constitutional amendment recognizing the human right to water, and a general water law that legally establishes social control…
“Civil society groups and member states have called for the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation within the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework. As international organizations representing frontline communities, workers and policy experts, we also call on member states to ensure the push for private sector participation in the areas of water…
Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project and Chair of Food & Water Watch, recently visited Detroit, Michigan in the United States and heard firsthand accounts from residents who were having their water services cut off by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD). This report was produced from information gathered by Maude Barlow,…
On May 7, Blue Planet Project campaigner Meera Karunananthan addressed an Informal Meeting of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations in New York. The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, with a core group of 30 member states representing various regional groups and with participation from many more…
Events are moving rapidly to establish the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River as a carbon corridor for a newly aggressive North American energy industry. This poses the greatest threat yet to these waters.
This briefing reveals how a major trade deal currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, threatens the power of governments to protect communities, citizens and the environment from risky new technologies such as fracking. It calls on the EU and the US to exclude investor-state…
This paper explores the possibilities for the implementation of the Right to Water in the Indian context and is divided into four sections. Section one deals with the meaning of the right to water in Indian law; Section two deals with the challenges posted by increased mining, large dams, energy projects, land grabs, water privatization,…