Last week, at the UN, the governments of Germany and Spain tabled a resolution through which the United Nations Human Rights Council would establish a Special Rapporteur (SR) dedicated to advancing the universal 'right to water and sanitation'. This resolution has the strong support of a number of States and human rights organizations; however, Canada and the United States are blocking it on several fronts. Thus far, they are the only two countries to go on record at the United Nations to oppose the right to water. Negotiations on this issue are expected to conclude this week.

"In the Global South, many people walk long distances to fetch and carry water," said Hélène Trépanier, President of the National Council of Development and Peace, "The burden of this work usually falls to women and children; thus impeding their right to education, or to the time required to improve their situation, as the need for water is paramount to sustaining life."

"The right to water is a basic necessity for which many of our partner organizations in the Global South are struggling," said Michael Casey, Executive Director, Development and Peace. "We believe a strong, healthy human rights system guaranteeing this right is a mandatory development tool. Canada should, therefore, stop seeking to block this fundamental need," he continued.

In 2006, as a direct result of a Development and Peace education campaign, 236,000 Canadians demanded the Government of Canada recognize water as a human right. They also asked it to oppose the water privatizations imposed on developing countries in the loan conditions of the international financial institutions. Development and Peace now asks Canada: "Why is our government still not listening to the voice of Canadians?"

The resolution tabled at the UN follows a report by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (and a former Canadian Supreme Court Justice), which stated that "Specific, dedicated and sustained attention to safe drinking water and sanitation is currently lacking at the international level" and that "it is now time to consider access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right".

Development and Peace is joining its voice to other Canadian NGOs, the Council of Canadians, the Quebec Association for a World Water Contract (AQCME), and other Christian Churches, such as the United Church of Canada, to ask the government not to push ahead with these amendments and to refrain from voting against the resolution as initially tabled.

"It is deeply unfortunate that Louise Arbour’s efforts, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to advance the right to water and sanitation are being undercut by her, and our, own government," said Michael Casey.

In November 2006, Development and Peace applauded the resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council to conduct a detailed study on the relevant human rights obligations related to equitable access to safe drinking water of which this resolution stems; since legal analysts have long argued that there are implicit references to the right to water contained in the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All of these treaties have been signed and ratified by Canada, which make its present objections all the more puzzling.