Today, whether water is a fundamental human right or a human need is still a hotly debated issue – usually between non-governmental organisations and government and industry leaders, the proponents of water privatisation.
At the World Water Forum held in March this year, 20 countries officially challenged the Ministerial Declaration which defines water as a human need rather than human right. The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nation’s agency for health, also advocates that countries accept water as a human right.
A statement by UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto, delivered by senior advisor Maude Barlow at the Forum, asserts, “Water is a public trust, a common heritage of people and nature, and a fundamental human right. ... We must challenge the notion that water is a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market. Those who are committed to the privatisation of water ... are denying people a human right as basic as the air we breathe.”
He urges, "We must work quickly to guarantee that access to drinking water constitutes a fundamental right of all peoples."
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