U.S. And Canada Refuse To Recognize Water As A Human Right
source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19590.htm
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- JanforGore
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The resolution, which will be voted on within the week, is currently being debated at the UNHRC session in Geneva that ends on March 28. Canada has presented numerous objections that have been echoed by the United States.
As it stands, Canada and the United States are the only two countries to go on record at the United Nations to oppose the right to water.
Canada is a member of the UNHRC until 2009; the United States is not an elected member but is allowed to engage under the rules of the Council.
The joint resolution promoted by Germany and Spain aims to establish a "special rapporteur" with the mandate to provide guidance on the right to water and sanitation, identify best practices, investigate country situations and promote the right internationally.
This follows a report by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stating that "specific, dedicated and sustained attention to safe drinking water and sanitation is currently lacking at the international level" and recommending that access to safe drinking water and sanitation be recognized as a human right.
Canada is working to weaken the resolution by demanding that references to the right to water and sanitation be removed and that the scope be reduced. Canada wants the proposed position of "special rapporteur" to be downgraded to "independent expert" serving for only one year instead of the proposed three years. Canada is also opposing visits by this expert to individual countries and the granting of a mandate enabling them to clarify the content of the right to water and sanitation.
This is the third time in six years that member nations of the UN have pushed for recognition of the human right to water. On each occasion, Canada has rejected the efforts to have water recognized as a right.
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NAFTA needs to be scrapped. To not recognize water as a human right is to condemn millions of people to drought, famine, and death, and leave the water they do have at the mercy of corporate raiders and political corruption. NAFTA has done nothing but reap benefits for the governments, but given little to nothing to the people. Water is not a commodity and not an investment, it is a human right and trust!
As it stands, Canada and the United States are the only two countries to go on record at the United Nations to oppose the right to water.
Canada is a member of the UNHRC until 2009; the United States is not an elected member but is allowed to engage under the rules of the Council.
The joint resolution promoted by Germany and Spain aims to establish a "special rapporteur" with the mandate to provide guidance on the right to water and sanitation, identify best practices, investigate country situations and promote the right internationally.
This follows a report by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stating that "specific, dedicated and sustained attention to safe drinking water and sanitation is currently lacking at the international level" and recommending that access to safe drinking water and sanitation be recognized as a human right.
Canada is working to weaken the resolution by demanding that references to the right to water and sanitation be removed and that the scope be reduced. Canada wants the proposed position of "special rapporteur" to be downgraded to "independent expert" serving for only one year instead of the proposed three years. Canada is also opposing visits by this expert to individual countries and the granting of a mandate enabling them to clarify the content of the right to water and sanitation.
This is the third time in six years that member nations of the UN have pushed for recognition of the human right to water. On each occasion, Canada has rejected the efforts to have water recognized as a right.
end of excerpt.
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NAFTA needs to be scrapped. To not recognize water as a human right is to condemn millions of people to drought, famine, and death, and leave the water they do have at the mercy of corporate raiders and political corruption. NAFTA has done nothing but reap benefits for the governments, but given little to nothing to the people. Water is not a commodity and not an investment, it is a human right and trust!
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