Urban homelessness and the right to water and sanitation: experiences from India's cities

Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicky Walters
Keyword(s):  
Homeless People ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
The Right ◽  
Indian Cities

Improving access to water and sanitation for vulnerable groups has been a significant development priority in recent decades and this has been coupled with calls for water and sanitation to be recognised as fundamental human rights. However, to date there has been very limited attention on the right to water and sanitation for homeless people, despite their high vulnerability to a range of water and sanitation insecurities. Drawing on empirical data from the Indian cities of Delhi and Bangalore, this paper examines homelessness and the right to water and sanitation. It highlights the everyday practices and experiences of homeless people in their efforts to access water and sanitation, and sheds light on some of the factors that contribute to their water and sanitation insecurity. It concludes that addressing the human right to water and sanitation for homeless people will require going beyond a technical and sector approach, to the more challenging task of tackling the complex factors that create and sustain their vulnerability and marginality in urban spaces.

Water for Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Baer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
National Level ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
The Right

Chapter 5 provides a case study of the human rights-based approach to water policy through an analysis of the Bolivian government’s attempts to implement the human right to water and sanitation. It explores these efforts at the local and national level, through changes to investments, institutions, and policies. The analysis reveals that while Bolivia meets the minimum standard for the human right to water and sanitation in some urban areas, access to quality water is low in poor and marginalized communities. While the Bolivian government expresses a strong political will for a human rights approach and is increasing state capacity to fulfill rights, the broader criteria for the right to water and sanitation, including citizen participation and democratic decision-making, remain largely unfulfilled. This case suggests political will and state capacity might be necessary but are not sufficient to fulfill the human right to water and sanitation broadly defined.

scholarly journals The Human Right to Water and Unconventional Energy

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Palmer ◽  
Damien Short ◽  
Walter Auch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

Access to water, in sufficient quantities and of sufficient quality is vital for human health. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in General Comment 15, drafted 2002) argued that access to water was a condition for the enjoyment of the right to an adequate standard of living, inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and thus a human right. On 28 July 2010 the United Nations General Assembly declared safe and clean drinking water and sanitation a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. This paper charts the international legal development of the right to water and its relevance to discussions surrounding the growth of unconventional energy and its heavy reliance on water. We consider key data from the country with arguably the most mature and extensive industry, the USA, and highlight the implications for water usage and water rights. We conclude that, given the weight of testimony of local people from our research, along with data from scientific literature, non-governmental organization (NGO) and other policy reports, that the right to water for residents living near fracking sites is likely to be severely curtailed. Even so, from the data presented here, we argue that the major issue regarding water use is the shifting of the resource from society to industry and the demonstrable lack of supply-side price signal that would demand that the industry reduce or stabilize its water demand per unit of energy produced. Thus, in the US context alone, there is considerable evidence that the human right to water will be seriously undermined by the growth of the unconventional oil and gas industry, and given its spread around the globe this could soon become a global human rights issue.

Time for Implementation of the Right to Water and Sanitation—e.g. The Missing Implementation in Germany

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-179
Author(s):  
Silke Ruth Laskowski
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Environmental Goods ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Legal Enforcement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Basic Sanitation ◽  
Degraded Ecosystems ◽  
The Right

Access to safe water supplies and basic sanitation are necessary for maintaining public health, and water is needed to support healthy ecosystems, which in turn provide critical environmental goods and services. As water demand and availability become more uncertain, all societies become more vulnerable to a wide range of risks associated with inadequate water supply, including hunger and thirst, high rates of disease and death, economic crises, and degraded ecosystems. This endangers the enforcement of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Against this background the paper reviews the current political development to strengthen the legal enforcement of the Right to Water; describes the importance of its legal implementation regarding poor populations in Europe; exemplifies the need for implementation and legal action in view of Germany; and addresses to strengthen enforcement of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation with a view to Environmental Justice.

The Human Right to Water in South Africa and the Mazibuko Decisions

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 521-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Humby ◽  
Maryse Grandbois
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The South ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Lower Courts ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
South African Constitution ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access

The right of access to sufficient water in the South African Constitution has for long been regarded as progressive in a global context where the human right to water is still a subject of contention. In its recent decision handed down in the Mazibuko matter, the South African Constitutional Court interpreted the right of access to sufficient water for the first time and clarified the nature of the State’s obligations which flow from this right. It also commented upon the role of the courts in adjudicating the human right to water. This article describes the passage of the Mazibuko matter and the manner in which the lower courts interpreted the right of access to “sufficient water” as well as outlining the Constitutional Court’s decision in the context of access to water services provision in South Africa.

scholarly journals Međunarodna solidarnost i pravo na zdravlje

JAHR ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Sonja Trgovčić
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Human Right ◽  
International Solidarity ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Right

The concept of international solidarity has been developing since the second half of the 20th century within the scope of international charters, conventions and declarations of protection of human rights. It has earned the qualities of the principle of international law and has been given a meaning of the key human right which binds together human rights of the first, second and third generation. With this work the author provides an explanation and gives a postulate to the legal nature of international solidarity and its legal feasibility. Furthermore, the author speaks about international cooperation, shared responsibility and the prevention of factors of climate change, hunger, inadequate health care, polarity in the economic development, and achieving equality. The author dedicates special attention to the right to health, its aspects and connections with international solidarity in protection of vulnerable groups.

scholarly journals Governance conundrum in pursuit of the human right to water and sanitation: tracking the progress of the leave-no-one-behind principle in Uganda

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Z. Ahabwe ◽  
D. W. Batega ◽  
A. Ssewaya ◽  
C. B. Niwagaba
Keyword(s):  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

Abstract The Government of Uganda is a party to numerous international and national commitments, laws and regulatory frameworks to deliver the socio-economic transformation of its citizens. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commit states, Uganda inclusive, to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030. According to the SDG 6 resolutions, the rights to water and sanitation are legally binding upon states, which have the primary responsibility to ensure their full realization, including unserved and under-served areas. While the SDGs came into force after 2015, it is not clear the extent to which Uganda's policies, legal instruments and practice are aligned to the SDGs. A combined methodology was adopted to undertake the study under a cross-sectional design. The study reviewed relevant literature such as sector performance reports on water and sanitation. Purposive sampling was used to select relevant informants for primary data. Key informant interviews were held with representatives of relevant government agencies, United Nations agencies, civil society organisations, indigenous communities and the private sector. Findings indicate that while the Government of Uganda has made tremendous efforts regarding the right to water and sanitation, enormous challenges and gaps remain. For instance, the pro-poor strategies to access safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities are largely insignificant.

scholarly journals An Inconvenient Truth about Access to Safe Drinking Water

2021 ◽  
pp. 158-168
Author(s):  
A. W. Jayawardena
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
World Population ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
An Inconvenient Truth ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal 6 ◽  
The Right

The phrase inconvenient truth associated with global warming and climate change has received a great deal of publicity some years back. The objective of this article is to highlight a different kind of inconvenient truth which affects about 29% of the world population. It is about the lack of access to safe drinking water that results in over 1.2 million preventable deaths annually. The first two targets of UN sustainable development goal 6 (SDG6) aim at providing universal, affordable and sustainable access to “water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)”.  Recognizing the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a basic human right, issues related to this problem as well as possible options to alleviate the problem are discussed.

scholarly journals Inclusive development as an imperative to realizing the human right to water and sanitation

1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Pedi Obani ◽  
Joyeeta Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Governance Process ◽  
The Right ◽  
Governance Instruments

There are a plethora of governance instruments for operationalizing human rights obligations on water and sanitation at multiple levels of governance. The realization that the human right to water and sanitation depends on the discourses and approaches used in a country to implement it implies that it is not self-evident that implementing the right will lead to inclusive development. The inclusive development aims at not only social inclusion but also ecological and relational inclusion, where the latter aims at ensuring that the structural causes of inequality are also addressed. Relying on an extensive literature review and jurisprudence on the human right to water and sanitation, we develop an ideal-typical conceptual framework for assessing the human right to water and sanitation with inclusive development as an imperative. Our framework is based on the premise that governance instruments are valueladen tools which can steer social changes depending on the contextual political paradigm which can be garnered from the goals, ownership models, accountability mechanisms and incentives of actors involved in the governance process. We, therefore, propose a simple model for assessing whether the governance instruments for operationalizing the human right to water and sanitation will, in fact, lead to inclusive development.Keywords: Human Rights, Governance, Water and Sanitation

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