Special Rapporteur calls on Mexico to adequately regulate the private and public provision of water to ensure human rights
Today the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Mr. Leo Heller, issues his follow-up report on his country visit to Mexico and eight other countries, which he will present to the 45th Human Rights Council. GI-ESCR welcomes this report as it emphasises the crucial importance of strengthening and financing the public provision of these essential services, and of countering the harmful practices of privatization and austerity, to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation in Mexico.
In his report, The Special Rapporteur assesses the situation in relation to the rights to water and sanitation in the country at the time of the visit, and then reviewed Mexico’s progress in relation to the recommendations he had made in his 2017 country visit report.
The Special Rapporteur considers that no progress has yet been made regarding his 2017 recommendation that the Mexican Government should adopt, without delay, a revised and comprehensive legal framework on water to give full effect to the human rights on water and sanitation and taking all appropriate measures to ensure the meaningful participation of civil society and other relevant stakeholders. He applies the same “progress not started” classification to his 2017 recommendation that Mexico should review the decentralized system for the provision of water and sanitation in order to strengthen state support for and financing of municipal services. The lack of resources and investment in quality public infrastructure is disproportionately affecting groups in rural and marginalized communities, he reckons.
The Special Rapporteur emphasises that Mexico should prioritise achieving coordination between the three levels of government (federal or national, states, and municipal) as a key step towards addressing the challenges in fulfilling the rights to water and sanitation.
Mr. Heller also regrets that the Government has not taken any concrete steps to establish regulatory laws and independent institutions in the water and sanitation sectors. In particular, the civil society initiative “Water for all, water for life”, which proposed the establishment of a social monitoring body to supervise the provision of water and sanitation services and presented and initiative to foster socio-hydro-environmental defence actions. The Special Rapporteur finds that this innovative initiative has not yet been considered by the relevant state authorities as a means of ensuring that water legal and policy frameworks align with human rights standards.
Photo credit © Leo Heller https://twitter.com/srwatsan