by Fr. Tom Brennan, SDB
(ANS – United Nations – July 27) – On Wednesday, July 18, the Salesians of Don Bosco co-sponsored an
event on the human right to water with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the
Sisters of Mercy, Blue Planet Project, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and
Public Services International. The event, entitled “Defining the Value of Water
from a Rights-Based Perspective,” was part of the U.N.’s 2018 High Level
Political Forum (HLPF). The panelists spoke of the ways that water is valued in
communities, cultures, and faiths around the world.
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| Panelists who spoke for clean water at HLPF |
This event was one of a series of collaborative
efforts that the Salesians have organized to raise the consciousness of
governments, U.N. agencies, and civil society groups about the essential role
that water plays in the attainment of all human rights. The human right to
water was explicitly noted in the preamble to the Sustainable Development
Goals, the only human right explicitly noted in the SDGs, largely through the
efforts of the partnership of the faith-based groups, Blue Planet Project, and Ambassador
Caleb Otto from the Pacific island nation of Palau during the SDG negotiations.
In his opening remarks, Nicholas Anton of the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese quoted Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, no.
30, on the human right to water: “Even
as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places
there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource,
turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market. Yet access to safe drinkable water is a basic and
universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is
a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a
grave social debt toward the poor who lack access to drinking water, because
they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity.
This debt can be paid partly by an increase in funding to provide clean water
and sanitary services among the poor. But water continues to be wasted, not
only in the developed world but also in developing countries which possess it
in abundance. This shows that the problem of water is partly an educational and
cultural issue, since there is little awareness of the seriousness of such
behavior within a context of great inequality.” (emphasis in the original)
As water has become increasingly scarce and
commodified, hundreds of millions of people around the world are denied access
to water. And since HLPF 2018 reviewed the progress in achieving SDG 6: “Ensuring availability and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all,” those who have worked on
water justice issues for years sought to remind the participants of the human
right to water and the inherent dignity of all people. It has become
increasingly clear, and troubling, that the implementation strategies promoted
by international financial institutions have placed a heavy focus on private
investment and for-profit delivery of essential services to provide basic human
necessities like water and sanitation. This has led to systemic human rights
violations and deepened the very inequalities the SDGs seek to combat.
Participants were reminded that water injustice has
become acceptable practice in many places. The specific example of the immoral
treatment of the people of Flint, Michigan, who were cut off from access to
clean water and were forced to use contaminated and dangerous water without
free and prior information before the change was effected was highlighted. The
shutting off of water to homes in arrears on payment without seeking a solution
to the problem was also noted. Both policies, initiated as cost-savings
programs, violated the rights and dignity of the involved citizens and told
them that they don’t matter. A call was made to involve local communities in
the decisions that affect their lives, especially when their human rights and
dignity are intimately involved in the decisions. Issues of income inequality
and the need for a just and living wage are elements of a policy that will
ensure that there is an enabling environment for protecting the human right to
water. Investing in people by investing in infrastructure for the delivery of
water and providing sanitation is more important than increasing profit
margins.
The Global Water Justice Movement views water as
part of the public trust, an essential part of the shared commons. Mobilizing
local communities to protect the human right to water protects access to this
essential resource for us all. Protecting access to clean, safe water and
setting up affordability mechanisms to protect the most vulnerable populations is
a moral imperative.
Read more about what the Salesians “on the ground”
are doing to provide clean, safe water for communities around the world:
http://www.salesianmissions.org/news/clean-water-tanzania
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