GI-ESCR submits to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

Today GI-ESCR responded to a call from the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation, Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, for submissions on the issue of water commodification. GI-ESCR’s submission proposed legal reasoning based on human rights law to support the point that, as a human right, water cannot be treated as a commodity. 

GI-ESCR emphasised that, as water is recognised under human rights law as a public service, the provision of water services and the governance of water as a resource must be organised in a democratic and non-commercial way, with public control, for the public good – which is to be distinguished from commercial service provision that treats water as a commodity. GI-ESCR explained how human rights law imposes limitations regarding the delegation of water services to private actors, and regarding the types of actors that may be involved in water provision and governance. In this respect, GI-ESCR noted that there is a distinction between commercial and non-commercial actors, arguing that the human rights understanding of water as a public service means that only non-commercial actors may be involved in water services and governance. Commercial actors view water as a commodity, and are driven by interests other than fulfilling a public service mission. Opening water up to the market logic through the involvement of commercial actors undermines water as a public service, and is therefore incompatible with the right to water.

 GI-ESCR further outlined how arguments that seek to justify the increased privatisation and commodification of water on the basis of the climate crisis are unfounded, highlighting that the increased involvement of private actors in water service provision and inviting investor speculation in water raise significant human rights and sustainability concerns.