Community | July 29, 2010 | 10 comments

UN vote declares right to clean water and sanitation a human right: U.S. abstains

source: http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/un-declares-access-to-water-and-sanitation-...

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JanforGore

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/un-declares-access-t...

The United Nations General Assembly declared today that clean drinking water and sanitation are human rights.

Rights to water have been included in conventions on the rights of women, children and those with disabilities, but never as a general human right.

Of the 192 member states: 122 voted in favor of the non-binding resolution, zero against and 41 abstained, including the United States.

John F. Sammis, Deputy Representative to the Economic and Social Council, explained in a statement that the U.S. felt the resolution potentially undermines work being done by the Switzerland-based Human Rights Council to situate a right to water within the body of international law.

According to Sammis’ statement: “The United States regrets that this resolution diverts us from the serious international efforts underway to promote greater coordination and cooperation on water and sanitation issues. This resolution attempts to take a short-cut around the serious work of formulating, articulating and upholding universal rights. It was not drafted in a transparent, inclusive manner, and the legal implications of a declared right to water have not yet been carefully and fully considered in this body or in Geneva.”

The U.S. mission to the U.N. declined to elaborate on the statement.

In 2008 the High Commissioner for Human Rights appointed an independent expert, Portuguese lawyer Catarina de Albuquerque, to investigate and clarify international human rights obligations pertaining to the rights to water and sanitation and to document best practices. Submitted last year, De Albuquerque’s first report focused on sanitation.
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10 comments // UN vote declares right to clean water and sanitation a human right: U.S. abstains

  • Thomas_Loscar
    • +1
      Thomas_Loscar  

    • This government WE as Americans are (supposedly) in charge of; declined the rights to clean water in order to crap on US American's, once again! A stain that cannot be washed away using unclean water!!!

    • 2 years ago
  • Prijedor
  • versasrev
  • JanforGore
  • Idoknow19
    • 0
      Idoknow19  

    • I just don't understand why we continue to oppose the basic moral and ethical structure of the international community despite the damage to our people and our reputation. Honestly, I don't understand the logic/plan, unless there's some kind of deplorable, Machiavellian program at play here.

      Perhaps its not even a deliberate shirking of basic human rights so much as an inherent consequence of our narcissistic, over-militarized, and imperialist aims?

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Idoknow19:

      I would say it is a combination of self importance and arrogance mixed in with greed and selfishness that doesn't make for a very good recipe for human survival as it stands now. As far as water is concerned, it is the new commodity for rich countries, governments, militaries, and corporations to exploit. There is now a water market, and a water exchange coming into being much like the carbon exchange, which inflates value for profit at the expense of those who need it. The poor of this world are being bombarded by this corporate mentality that does not know what morals are. All they know is personal gain while making false choices. I think that ultimately the decisions they make will come back to them personally, which they are blind to as well living in their little money bubbles. That is the one piece of this puzzle they are missing or refuse to see... that they too are part of the very world they are exploiting and sooner or later it will reach them. Perhaps that is then truly what needs to be seen on a global scale in order to see a real change in this world.

      And thanks for the comment below because this does also go back to our own propensity in this country to be so easily distracted that blinds us as well. And I do think for the most that is all part of the plan.

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Wow, this is a step FINALLY in the right direction, especially now with the water situation globally combined with climate change and its effects on developing nations that will need water for agriculture and to surivive, and yet, nothing. Perhaps I should have framed this post as a "I hate the repugs", or "I hate those commie socialist lefties", or some such other Fox News type tit for tat, or added a picture of a naked woman with big 'boobies' carrying a water jug and it would have catapulted to number one with 500 comments.

      Anyway, the bottomline is that WATER is the substance of life and it is being polluted, toxified, wasted, HYDROFRACKED, PRIVITIZED and now evaporated by climate change in the form of desertification, water evaporation, sea level rise, and glacier melt (along with erratic and changing rainfall patterns that are causing massive floods) at a pace that will see an exponential rise in unliveable, water scarce and drought stricken areas by 2030. That in turn will cause a mass migration of refugees looking for water to live. Which in turn will increase terrorist activity ( as we now see in Pakistan) and conflict which we see between India and Pakistan (as the Indus Water Treaty breaks down) China and India, African states, Israel and Palestine, Turkey and Iraq and as a matter of fact the whole MIddle East and perhaps to come the U.S. and Canada, and as predicted, a mass migration from Mexico to the U.S giving a whole new spin to the immigration "problem."

      I am truly curious then as to when WATER will become as sexy a topic to give a damn about as Sarah Palin's bra size. When you don't have it anymore? WATER and how we treat it encompasses the moral makeup of humanity... How very disappointing.

    • 2 years ago
  • Idoknow19
    • 0
      Idoknow19  
    • JanforGore:

      Your frustration is both warranted and well articulated ;)

      It seems that, on our quest to become more-than-human, we lost our humanity along the way. Advances in medicine, energy, and "environmental engineering" among others have really pushed our species backward haven't they? I'm no enemy to science, but it's hard to ignore that the ubiquity of the automobile, the massive quantities of energy we use everyday, and the gadgets and entertainment that allow us to ignore the plight of the common man have shortened our collective lifespan significantly.

      +^'d

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • "John F. Sammis, Deputy Representative to the Economic and Social Council, explained in a statement that the U.S. felt the resolution potentially undermines work being done by the Switzerland-based Human Rights Council to situate a right to water within the body of international law."
      ___
      Well gee, what a coincidence. Nestle's global headquarters are in Switzerland too. This is shameful to me. One vote does not negate another. Voting yes to this would simply verify that the U.S. stands up for clean water and sanitation as a human right. This constant obfuscation regarding interference with other work is just a cop out.

    • 2 years ago
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