June 2007/N° 5 News and links of Water as a Human Right Yvonne Theemann The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR) is preparing a report on Human Rights and Water which will be published in Sep­tember this year. The FES Geneva Office therefore wants to give an overview on the current multilat­eral debate. This fact sheet is structured in three parts: The first part provides the overview of the multi­lateral debate on Water and Human Rights as mentioned above. In the second part, some links to other UN-Organizations dealing with human rights aspects on water are given while the third part includes a short list of the FES work on these issues. The Debate on Water as a Human Right in the OHCHR “The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights.” (General Comment No 15, ESCR) Although regarded as a prerequisite, the interna­tional law does not know an explicit right to water still until today. Nevertheless, Human Rights obli­gations related to the right to water are expressed within the Human Rights covenants of 1966 in the Right to Health, the Right to Life and the Right to Food as well as in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the Elimination of Discrimina­tion against Women. The most elaborate definition of the right to water has been given by the Committee on Economic, Social and Culture Rights in its General Comment No 15:“The human right to water entitles every­one to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically ac­cessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses.” The OHCHR was requested by the Council on its session in December 2006 to conduct a detailed study“on the scope and content of the relevant human rights obligations related to equitable ac­cess to safe drinking water and sanitation under international human rights instruments”. One rea­son for this study is trying to put the right to wa­ter into international legislation. Thus a consultation on May 11th 2007 took place at the OHCHR. Governments as well as NGOs had the opportunity to present their suggestions for aspects the report of the OHCHR should focus on. As this fact sheet cannot respond to the whole discussion in detail, some forward-looking aspects will be highlighted. The question of convenience and inconvenience of privatization in the water sector is still argued in an emotional way. While one representative of an African NGO calls“Privatisation, c’est un danger!” the OHCHR promotes neither public nor private access to water as the official position. For the OHCHR as for other international organizations like the World Bank the access and supply of drinking-water has been guaranteed but not free. Another aspect raised several times was the stronger recognition of the crosscutting influence water plays worldwide. Around 40 per cent of the world population is living in crosscutting river sheds. 30 per cent of the states cover their water supply from outside their own territory. To put it in the words of Udo Simonis who provided a far 1