The obligation on States to protect human rights includes ensuring that non-State actors do not infringe upon the right to water. This is the obligation to protect described above. In addition, there is an increasing debate about the extent to which other actors in society—individuals, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and business—have responsibilities with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights.
This section explores the role of United Nations agencies and of the private sector.
United Nations agencies
According to the Charter of the United Nations, one of the purposes of the United Nations is to promote respect for human rights. International human rights treaties also envisage a particular role for United Nations agencies in their implementation. In general comment No. 2 (1990) on international technical assistance measures, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also underlined that all United Nations organs and agencies involved in any aspect of international development cooperation should ensure that the rights contained in the Covenant are fully taken into account at each phase of a development project.
In recent years, reforms of the United Nations by the Secretary-General (in 1997, 2002 and 2005) have highlighted the role and responsibilities of United Nations agencies and international financial institutions with respect to human rights. In 2003, United Nations agencies, in a common understanding, affirmed that all development programmes and assistance should realize human rights and be guided by human rights principles and standards.
United Nations agencies working on water and sanitation, such as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat),19 UNDP, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and WHO, are increasingly referring to the human rights framework to address the current water and sanitation crisis. In 2003, the High-level Committee on Programmes established UN-Water as the inter-agency mechanism to promote coherence in, and coordination of, the United Nations system’s actions to implement the water and sanitation agenda defined by the Millennium Declaration and the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Millennium Development Goals related to water and sanitation In September 2000, world leaders made wide-ranging commitments in the Millennium Declaration. The topics included peace, security, human rights and the environment, and a number of time-bound development targets were set. Those targets were later configured into eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Goal 7 is to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
While the content of the MDGs partly resembles some aspects of human rights, a systematic human rights-based approach to understanding and achieving the MDGs remains an unmet challenge. Human rights have not yet played a significant role in supporting and influencing MDG-related activities. In addition, human rights standards require States to ensure that
all persons have access without discrimination to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Even if the MDG targets were to be achieved in full, it is important to note that there would still be more than 800 million people without safe drinking water and 1.8 billion people without basic sanitation in 2015.
The United Nations Millennium Project’s Task Force on Water and Sanitation has affirmed that access to safe drinking water is a human right and highlighted its importance for achieving the majority of MDGs.
For more information, see Claiming the Millennium Development Goals: A human rights approach (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.08.XIV.6) and Millennium Project, Health, dignity, and development: what will it take? (London, Earthscan, 2005), pp. 15–27.
The private sector
Businesses and the private sector are important players, too. The private sector, in particular water service providers (from large companies operating piped water networks and sewage systems to individuals running water tankers), is directly involved in the provision of water.
The private sector, notably large-scale agricultural producers and industry, is also an important user of water. Irrigation remains the largest user of water but projections indicate that industry will account for most of the increase in water use to 2025. In such a context, there are risks that the interests of the poor might be pushed aside by large agricultural producers and industry, two constituencies with a strong political voice.20
The CEO Water Mandate
In July 2007, the United Nations Secretary-General, in partnership with international business leaders, launched the CEO Water Mandate under the auspices of the United Nations Global Compact. This initiative came about because of the understanding that the private sector, through the production of goods and services, has an impact on water resources.
Endorsing chief executive officers (CEOs) acknowledge that in order to operate in a sustainable manner, and contribute to the vision of the Global Compact and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals, they have a responsibility to make water-resources management a priority, and to work with Governments, United Nations agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders to address this challenge.
For more information about the CEO Water Mandate, see www.
unglobalcompact.org.
While business can contribute positively to the enjoyment of human rights, the opposite is also true, for instance through pollution, over-extraction or encroachment upon water resources that communities rely upon for drinking. Where water services are operated by the private sector, concerns have been raised about arbitrary and illegal disconnections, the affordability of water and sanitation services, as well as about the extension of these services to vulnerable and marginalized groups.
The private sector can also have an impact on the enjoyment of the right to water at the workplace. ILO Convention No. 161 concerning Occupational Health Services (1985) underlines the responsibility of employers for the health and safety of their workers, which includes access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Several voluntary, collective initiatives endorsed by companies also recognize that it is their responsibility to provide safe drinking water and sanitation at the workplace.21
If housing is provided by the employer, ILO Recommendation No. 115 concerning Workers’ Housing underlines that the employer should ensure access to adequate sanitation facilities, as well as to safe drinking water in such ample quantities as to provide for all personal and household uses.
While States retain the primary responsibility for ensuring that private actors respect human rights, according to the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on business and human rights, business enterprises have a responsibility to respect all human rights, including the right to water (A/HRC/8/5). This responsibility is the basic expectation society has of business and it is recognized in a broad range of soft law instruments. It is also invoked by global business organizations and individual companies worldwide.
While corporations do not have direct obligations under international human rights law in relation to the right to water, they will often have duties under national water use and access laws which have been implemented to reflect Governments’ international obligations. Irrespective of any legal requirements in their countries of operation, corporations face increasing societal expectations that their actions and operations should respect human rights and do no harm to the enjoyment of these rights by individuals. These expectations manifest themselves through the growing trend of adopting corporate social responsibility as part of responsible business and social performance, including in some cases at the instigation of investors and shareholders.
Many corporations have also made voluntary commitments to respect and support human rights, including the right to water, notably by signing
up to the United Nations Global Compact,22 which defines 10 principles related to human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption that signatory companies pledge to respect. Some companies have also developed their own human rights policies, programmes and tools to incorporate human rights, including the right to water, into their business operations.
Veolia Water is a private operator which provides water to 110 million people in 59 countries. It recognizes that the right to water is a basic human right and has made corporate commitments in this respect. For instance, it will:
• Not respond to calls for tenders if it deems the specifications incompatible with the population’s interest and ability to pay;
• Foster the greater involvement of populations in water management, and promote dialogue with consumers and their representatives.
Source: Contribution from Veolia Water to the OHCHR consultation on human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation, 13 April 2007. Available from www.ohchr.org.