"If you want to know who is going to change this country, take a look in the mirror." Maude Barlow, co-founder of The Blue Planet Project and National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, founded in 1985, with members and chapters across the country.

The Right to Water:
The Campaign for a United Nations Treaty
Ever since the powerful players of the World Water Council - the World Bank, the big water corporations, and the aid agencies and water ministries of First World countries - declared that water is not a human right, but rather a human need best served by private investors, the issue of the human right to water has become central to the international struggle for the control of water

Now, for the first time since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted 60 years ago, the UN General Assembly has recognized the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Read the Press Release from Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians celebrating the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation here.

Council of Canadians
MEDIA RELEASE
July 28, 2010

Council of Canadians celebrates UN General Assembly recognition of human right to water
After over a decade of hard work, the global water justice movement achieved a major victory today as the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of recognizing water and sanitation as human rights. The resolution – put forward by Bolivia and co-sponsored by 35 states – passed overwhelmingly with 122 states voting in favour and 41 abstaining.

“It was a great honour to be present as the UN General Assembly took this historic step forward in the struggle for a just world,” says Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “It is sad however, that Canada chose not to participate in this important moment in history.”

The organization is calling on states to build on this victory.

“This resolution has the overwhelming support of a strong majority of countries, despite a handful of powerful opponents. It must now be followed-up with a renewed push for water justice,” says Anil Naidoo, Blue Planet Project organizer. “We are calling for actions on the ground in communities around the world to ensure that the rights to water and sanitation are implemented. Governments, aid agencies and the UN must take their responsibilities seriously.”

As a result of this vote, the human right to water and sanitation is now explicitly and formally recognized at the UN.
“Canada's abstention from the vote will not excuse it from the work that needs to be done to maintain and improve its public water and sanitation systems for all peoples living in Canada, including Indigenous communities who have lived for generations without adequate infrastructure,” says Meera Karunananthan, national water campaigner at the Council of Canadians.

For more information, please contact Meera Karunananthan at (613) 355-2100 or meera@canadians.org
700-170 Laurier Avenue West Ottawa, ON, K1P 5V5 CA;
T: (613) 233-2773 E: inquiries@canadians.og