Human Right to Water: A Public Policy Analysis View

My talk at the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Human Rights 16th Annual Conference on the Human Right to Water. In my talk, I will highligh the challenges facing the human right to water and sanitation as we seek to implement them not only in Mexico, but also globally. I also discuss my research on water marketization and commodification and how bottled water threatens the proper implementation of a human right to water

Transcript

1. Challenges in Implementing
   the Human Right to Water: A
   Public Policy Analysis View
   DR. RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
   CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIÓN Y DOCENCIA ECONÓMICAS (CIDE)
   UNESCO CHAIR - HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER CONFERENCE
   UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT, STORRS. OCTOBER 20TH, 2015
   

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2. 3 paradoxes on HRWS
    Why is HRW mobilized as a frame of meaning against water privatization (public
   service delivery) and NOT against bottled water (in Mexico, particularly)?
    Why is the HRW practically separated from the HRS (for all practical purposes)
   when we have a closed hydrological cycle?
    Why are we so concerned about how we can implement the HRW when it’s not
   even clear the public understands what it means in practical terms?
   

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3. HRW as a frame of meaning against
   privatization of water supply
   

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4. Know your rights: sub-national HRW
   implementation
   What HRW entails What HRW does not imply Potential reframing
   Quantity
   (supply)
   Baseline (50-100 litres per
   person per year)
   Unlimited supply available for
   wastage
   “Making water available for everyone
   AT LEAST in X amount”
   Responsibility
   (jurisdiction)
   Municipal governments in
   coordination with federal
   All responsibilities lie within
   cities without any support
   from upper levels
   “Cooperative approaches to public
   water supply can yield better results
   than simply overloading water utilities”
   Actors Everyone should be involved in
   the domestic implementation of a
   human right to water approach
   Only government agencies
   will be responsible for
   producing water supply
   without any private entities
   nor civil society actors
   “Co-production of public service
   delivery of water resources can be
   executed, as well as public-private
   partnerships and alternative delivery
   models”
   Financing Access to financial resources
   should be adequate
   Water is free and so is water
   supply
   “We need to search for ways to make
   water utilities self-sustaining”
   

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5. HRW and HRS
   

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6. Issue Why this happens? What to do about it?
   HRW as a frame of meaning vs
   privatization and NOT against BW
   • Lack of resources
   • Strategic use of resources
   • Simpler mobilization strategies
   • Use specific triggering points (e.g.
   drought in Canada and the US) as
   leverage against BW companies
   • Education campaigns around bottled
   water’s impact on environment,
   human health, etc. (soft drinks)
   Overcoming barriers to HRW
   implementation
   • Lack of understanding of the
   concept
   • Misconceptions about what HRW
   entails in practical and policy terms
   • Clarify for local governments, water
   utilities, citizens, civil society what
   HRW is and what it ISN’T.
   HRW separated from HRS • Sanitation is an invisible issue
   • Lack of integration of hydrological
   cycle (water and wastewater)
   • Making the invisible VISIBLE
   • Highlighting very vulnerable target
   populations
   • Use HRWS always
   

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7. My 3 takeaways on the human right to
   water and sanitation (HRWS)
   1. There is a divide and a chasm between the human right to water (HRW) and the
   human right to sanitation (HRS)
    We need an integrated view of HRWS and the water cycle
   2. There are numerous challenges to the proper implementation of HRWS in
   Mexico
    Mexican water agency (CONAGUA) strongly pro-privatization, and activists against,
   BUT little focus on bottled water – need to refocus
   3. To properly implement the HRW we need to effectively end the global bottled
   water industry business.
    Commodifying a human right becomes the norm rather than the exception
   

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8. HRWS from a policy perspective
    Whereas previous conceptualizations of HRW focused on it as STRATEGY, I
   side with Mirosa and Harris (2012) in that we need to reconsider HRW as a
   framework for GOAL ATTAINMENT.
    Policy designs that aggressively push for public water supply should also engage
   with and bring along proposals to ensure global access to toilets, sewerage
   infrastructure and robust wastewater treatment (Pacheco-Vega 2015).
    Implementing the HRW will necessitate a focus on two simultaneous strategies:
   a) Remunicipalization of private water service delivery
   b) Regulation and control of the global bottled water industry across scales
   

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9. Thank you!
   Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD
   http://www.raulpacheco.org
   Twitter: @raulpacheco
   Facebook: DrPachecoVega
   E-mail: raul.pacheco-vega@cide.edu
   

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