Water Governance In Relation To Human Rights, International Water Law and Environmental Sustainability (original) (raw)
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CONTENT AND EFFECTS OF RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHT TO WATER
Since 2010, the list of fundamental human rights is supplemented with Human Right to Water and Sanitation. From a sociological perspective this law is the expression of individual needs, but also social. Following the recognition of the right to water, rather witnessing the intensification of the conflict between economic and non-economic values, which resolves most of the time in favour of the first. The penetration force of the economics values and force for concretization of material contrasts with the inability of the values, called humanitarian (dignity, solidarity, equality, justice etc.) to decisively influence the international law. A major threat to fairness in the management of water is corruption of the entities that are responsible for setting and enforcing rules and also the stakeholders.
The right to water as a social fundamental right
Agrár- és Környezetjog, 2019
In our study we would primarily like to introduce the interpretation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (hereinafter 'the Social Pillar'). Article 20 of the Social Pillar deals with the right to access basic services. Basic services include the right to water and sanitation. The quoted article of the Pillar highlights that people in need should be supported in the access of these services. The Social Pillar defines the access right in the framework of social protection and social inclusion. In our opinion, this aligns a new interpretation of the right to water nearby the earlier ones which recognises the right to water not just as a fundamental right, but a social fundamental right as well. The characteristic of social fundamental rights is that they are not included in the orders of the ius cogens, but they protect so essential things that are connected closely to the right to life and to subsistence in general. This statement can be valid to the definition of right to water. If we analyse the classical social rights more precisely, we will have similar conclusions. This interpretation is reflected by Article XX of the Fundamental Law as well. The access to drinking water is highlighted as an important element of the right to physical and mental health. We can see that this element itself is not enforceable, but it also connects to the right to physical and mental health, and indirectly to the right to social security and the right to life. Drinking water is a very important matter from the aspect of human life.
Theoretical Responses to Water Justice A Discussion Between
Summerhill: IIAS Review,, 5
Agendas of Sustainable Development 2030, concerning water governance, have re-energized the debates on the idea of 'water justice.' Globally, the signatories of the water agenda (as part of Sustainable Development Goals 2030) have profoundly argued against the prevailing water injustices. At the institutional level, these states have attempted to humanize the water-related issues and have highlighted human sufferings, extensively. In global academia, the sensitivity against water injustices is even more intense. Here, in the intense academic debates, water injustices are identified as the opposite of water justice which indicates a condition where individuals, groups, or communities are suffering because of the unavailability, inaccessibility, or unaffordability of water. While pointing out water suffering, these debates have identified the reasons, nature, and consequences of water injustices and have endeavored to theorize the issues concerning water injustice in different backgrounds and contexts. In making arguments for water justice, the water scholars are not contradicting each other. However, they have been persuaded the same, differently, by the logic and subject. To the idea of water justice, these many logics have offered normative inputs and created a tradition of argumentativeness. The critical explorations offered by this intellectual argumentativeness pose critical commentaries against the various understandings of water justice and while so doing propose a new perspective on water justice. Since the ideas of water justice, which emerged with these many normative arguments, are dominating in policy processes, it is essential to understand its value in the normative and theoretical background. The present paper, given this requirement, attempts to explore the theoretical understandings of
The Question of Right to Water: Some Reflections on the Major debates in Political Discourse
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2017
Rights talks are normative inquiries. Fundamentally, it insists to find what is supposed to be claimed as right and what decides its claimability. Unarguably, whatever is essential for life is a right. Since water is one of the essentials of life, it indeed is a right. The aim of this paper, in this view, is, not to argue against or in favor of the idea of right to water but the aim is to highlight the existing logics that has endorsed that water is a right. In political discourse, such logics are remarkably different as they have elaborated the right in different contexts and have justified them for different purposes. Present paper in this respect is investigating and commenting on some major debates on the question of right to water, this includes debates advanced in neo-liberalism, neo-Marxism, Eco-feminism and Human Right discourse. The paper presents some observations on each debate and tries to find the problem lies in them. For this purpose the paper is divided into four parts, each of which is followed by some observations.
The right to water as a fundamental right
World Journal of Environmental Research
Water is a Human Right of first necessity. We verified that water resources have been used at a rate higher than their replacement capacity, causing problems of water scarcity. This study aims to draw attention of the world community to the need to implement measures to a real social responsibility and cooperative. A review of the literature and an analysis of the various international legal instruments on water resources will be carried out to highlight the absence of social and cooperative responsibility and the need to create sanctions. It is observed that states and international organisations have failed to develop measures to curb their misuse and to overcome the shortage of water in some regions. We believe that the current situation can only be improved through the implementation of policies in terms of social responsibility and cooperative and the companies or the organisations in general. Keywords: Environment, management, water, water shortage.
Water Alternatives, 2014
Water was associated with the 'just' community as long ago as Plato's inclusion of it in several passages of The Laws. Concern for fairness, and not just productivity, has been embodied in laws governing water distribution in countries around the world since ancient times (Ingram et al., 1983). Unfortunately, the rise of the modern paradigm of 'pushing water around' in the 20th century (Conca, 2006) submerged ethical questions in a flood of optimism that good engineering could float all boats and that difficult value trade-offs could be avoided by good management practices. An international network of water professionals emerged, first to spread the gospel of dams and diversions, and later to address the unanticipated consequences of development. Today, a much more diverse and enlightened global water professional network embraces integrated water resources planning and management. While values more varied than economic progress, including the environment, and women's and indigenous people's rights, are acknowledged, the same 'conspiracy of optimism' (see Hirt, 1994 for application to Forestry) prevails. The 'Nirvana' illusions continue to dazzle, and to displace fundamental rethinking. As Molle (2008) explains in the first issue of this journal, "[such illusions] represent a vision of a 'horizon' that individuals and societies should strive to reach. Although, just as with nirvana, the likelihood that we may reach them is admittedly low, the mere possibility of achieving them and the sense of 'progress' attached to any shift in their direction suffice to make them an attractive and useful focal point" (p. 132). Ethics can be powerful correctives to magical thinking in that it disciplines reasoning to address hard choices: How should the interest of future generations be weighed against those of the present? How can and should the interests of the non-human be taken into account? To what extent should prior wrongs be redressed, and by whom? How can people and communities be compensated for waterrelated injuries and losses without generating additional animosities? How can empathy be fostered in water decisions, and how might disadvantaged water-dependent communities be empowered? (see Feldman and Whitman, 2010.) The challenge of this book review is to address how well David Groenfeldt's book handles these and other questions, and more importantly, how well it frames ethical reasoning to stand up against prevailing technical, economic and political approaches. First, however, it is important to set out what the author intended to do and how he accomplished his task.