Water And Human Right

Africa, Water and, Human rights

The right to water and to satisfy basic human needs for personal and domestic uses has been voted as an international human rights law. This international treaty has been recognized by the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council in 2010.

Does Water Privatization Violate the Human Right to Water?

The human right to water places the main responsibilities upon governments to ensure that the population can enjoy sanitized water at a reasonable price without discrimination. The reality is so different. In that case, water privatization will definitely go against the Human right to water.

For a long time, access to clean water was and is a major problem for several regions of the world, especially regions in Africa, such as Sub-Saharan, north and center area. Quantitative research shows that over 40 percent of the population of countries located in that region lives without improved drinking water while the rest has the privilege to be served with clean water. Indeed, some countries such as the Centre African Republic, Botswana, Somalia, Kenya, Algeria and Niger cited as poor countries by UNDP (united nations development program) according their GDP (gross domestic product), GNP (gross national product), HDI (human development index) and many other criteria, less than half of the population has access to safe drinking water.

The causes are multiple. Natural factors, poor government management, and political factors are some of them, which contribute to an increasing rarity of water for those populations. Natural factors such as the bio-climatic environment are not favorable to the agriculture in some regions. Consequences are multiples. Population has to walk several kilometers to obtain clean water. In the Sahel, for example, the variability and the permanent insufficiency of water penalize agricultures and breeding. As the water is essential in the agriculture, the water shortages also engender shortages of food, what causes the malnutrition. If they just use what they have, they are rewarded with sickness such as diarrhea, cholera, malaria and, many more diseases.

On the other hand, World bank encourages some African countries to privatize their water industry. The tendency is water privatization, which tends to sustain and expand operations in a never-ending quest of those multinationals economic growth. The consummation price of water use will know a rise which will cause problems for those local populations who already suffer from starvation because of lack of funds.

The water, as universal heritage of the humanity and vital need for human beings, is not treated that way; instead, it is seen as a profitable economic property. The priority then is not any more to answer a need, but to answer a benefit.

Institutions as The IMF (INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND) and the World bank apply their power over many African countries to accept their position. They privatize, or are on the way to privatize, the management of their water. My country is among them. In doing so, we definitely eliminate the human right to water. It is just a fact, a consequence of the global interdependence.

The privatization of the water in diverse countries raise more problems than they solve it.

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