Posted on 17-2-2003

Water Rights Drowning

Statement by UN...

"States parties to the International Covenant of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights have the duty to progressively realize, without
discrimination, the right to water.

The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, affordable,
physically accessible, safe and acceptable water for personal and domestic
uses, the text notes.

While those uses vary between cultures, an adequate amount of safe water is
necessary to prevent death from dehydration, to reduce the risk of
water-related disease and to provide for consumption, cooking, personal
and domestic hygienic requirements.

The right to water contains both freedom and entitlements; the freedoms
include the right to maintain access to existing water supplies necessary
for the right to water; and the right to be free from interference, such
as the right to be free from arbitrary disconnections or contamination of
water supplies, the text states.

The elements of the right to water should be adequate for human dignity,
life and health. The adequacy of water should not be interpreted narrowly,
by mere reference to volumetric qualities and technologies. Water should
be treated as a social and cultural good, and not primarily as an economic
commodity.

The manner of the realization of the right to water should also be
sustainable, ensuring that the right can be realized for present and future
generations.

Further, the General Comment notes that States parties have a constant and
continuing duty, in accordance with the obligation of progressive
realization, to move expeditiously and effectively towards the full
realization to the right to water.

Realization of the right should be feasible and practicable, since all
States parties exercise control over a broad range of resources, including
water, technology, financial resources and international assistance, as
with all other rights in the Covenant. "

Comment by Penny Bright

However, simultaneously, and in parallel, the water multinationals have
been pushing for an extension of their 'corporate rights' to commodify and
privatise the world's water by getting changes to GATS
(The General Agreement on Trade in Services). The big European-based water
multinationals are behind
moves by the European Commission to change GATS rules to make it easier to
privatise our water!

Governments of the 'western democracies' (including NZ) tend to look after
the interests of big business that is based in their patch. At 30,000 feet
are there secret deals that will allow NZ meat and dairy companies better
access into Europe, in return for the European-based water multinationals
getting better access to privatise our water services? Lamb for water
privatisation?

Not only that, the New Zealand Labour Government "...wants Europe to
abandon the protection of its public services and utilities from coverage
by the free trade rules of the General Agreement on Trade in
Services. (GATS). The following is a press release from Professor Jane
Kelsey:

New Zealand Attacks Europe’s Public Services
Monday, 10 February 2003, 1:16 pm

Secret documents viewed by Professor Jane Kelsey from ARENA reveal that the
New Zealand Government wants Europe to abandon the protection of its public
services and utilities from coverage by the free trade rules of the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). “This exposes, yet again, the
hypocrisy of our Government in the national and international arenas,” says
Professor Kelsey in Geneva. “At home it claims to have ended the market
driven approach to public services pursued by previous governments. Yet it
wants Europe to expose its public services and utilities to full
competition and potentially to foreign control. “If Europe was to agree to
New Zealand’s demand, the GATS ‘most favoured nation’ rule would require it
to remove that protection in relation to all countries, including the US
and Japan. “Only one other country – Brazil - seems to have made such an
extreme demand. You have to wonder what game the New Zealand Government is
playing.”

In 1994 the EC reserved the right in all its member states to maintain
public monopolies or grant exclusive rights to private operators in areas
like environmental and health services.* New Zealand’s GATS ‘request’ to
the EC wants this protection removed. “This demand to the Europeans also
raises questions about what the new Zealand government really plans to do
in relation to our own public services.” Kelsey says. "The Government’s
recently released consultation document that claims to summarise the
requests, fails to mention this extraordinary demand. “The document is
full of double speak," Professor Kelsey asserts. "It says that governments
have the right to maintain publicly funded governmental services and not to
liberalise them. But it fails to disclose that New Zealand is asking other
governments to sign away that right.

It claims that its initial offer to other WTO members will make no offer
‘that would limit the government’s right to provide, fund or regulate
public services.’ "Does that mean it has one rule for itself and another
for the rest of the world? How credible will that be when it has to defend
public services against demands we know have been made by the U.S. and the
EC, amongst others? Or does it intend to stick to its stated principles
only in its initial offer? “This proves that we simply can’t trust them,”
said Professor
Kelsey. “What are they trying to hide? Who else have they made such demands
of and what else aren’t they telling us? Until we see the actual
documentation, which is being kept secret from the New Zealand public, no
one can really know what’s going on.”

* According to an explanatory note: “Public utilities exist in sectors such
as related scientific and technical consulting services, R&D services on
social sciences and humanities, technical testing and analysis services,
environmental services, health services, transport services and services
auxiliary to all modes of transport. Exclusive rights on such services are
often granted to private operators, for instance operators with concessions
from public authorities, subject tospecific service obligations. Given that
public utilities often also exist at the sub-central level, detailed and
exhaustive sector-specific
schedulingis not practical."


___________________________________________________

In whose interests is our Government going to act?

We must demand that the NZ Government take immediate steps to incorporate
water, as a Universal Human Right into NZ law, and not sign up to any
international trade treaties, like GATS, which will compromise water as a
human right, and extend corporate rights of multinational water companies!

Penny Bright, Media Spokesperson, Water Pressure Group (Auckland), Ph (09)
846 9825