So what do you think about this petition to the UN...

Petition to make clean water a human right
Posted by Cory Doctorow, December 15, 2008 12:10 PM | permalink
The Article 31 petition is trying to get the UN to add a new article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one that recognizes a fundamental right to water. It comes from the people who made the amazing documentary on water rights, Flow.

In 1948, the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were ratified by all the nations of the world. These 30 articles guaranteed a broad sweep of human rights across many human endeavors, from Life to Liberty to Freedom of Thought.

Now, sixty years later, recognizing that over a billion people across the planet lack access to clean and potable water and that millions die each year as a result, it is imperative to add one more article to this historic declaration, the Right to Water.

We, the undersigned, respectfully call upon the United Nations to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing access to clean and potable water as a fundamental human right.

We believe the world will be a better place when the Right To Water is acknowledged by all nations as a fundamental human right, and that this addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represents a major step toward the goal of water for all. 

Link: http://www.unac.org/en/library/unacresearch/2007RightToWater_e.pdf

So what do you think about this?

Personally I like the idea, I really do, but I fear the execution of it will be almost shit like.

For instance is very nice to say all humans have the right to clean water, but we are the ones polluting it, so instead of make it a so called "Human Right", why not make it a damn duty to keep water clean and drinkable, many of the nations that have problems with clean water actually poisoned their own water supplies with wastes and/or limited the supply with deforestation, so I think this should be a duty of all governments and mankind, not just a "right".

I don't know, I guess I fear people will see water as a less important resource if it becomes their "right" to have it.

Since I am confusing lets say it in one sentence,

Keep water clean should be a Duty, not a right.

I am a firm believer of the saying "You don't know the value of anything until you earn it"

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this is one weird thread. but i like the direction. of water, not the how theyre gonna do it

That is because political threads are banned, and almost no one wastes their time posting in a political thread... but come on, we are talking about the UN!!! they hardly fit as a political organization, they are more like publicity, (WE are the UN and we have the power to enforce everything we do... no wait we don't v_v)

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It's a fluffy idea that makes you feel warm inside,
but the way I see it is that people who live in countries
with no human rights will just have one unfulfilled
paragraph more and the people living in better places
will have one more card in the play.

What about the other human right?
Are they kept in places water is polluted?

It was argued, however, that a human right to water is
integrally linked to other protected human rights such as the right to an adequate standard of
living (including food and housing), the right to life, the right to health, and the right to
education.

Those basic rights are deprived, or simply unkept.
Adding this as a law would be indeed a very good thing, but I doubt it would matter in places no other rights are preserved.
No education, hard living conditions, sickness, poverty.

You say people need to value things by earning them.
Some people just don't know how to live differently.
Their hard lives is all they have, and a fancy law won't change it...
Who would clean the water?

Such ideas are utopic, but who would do anything about it?
Keeping water clean would cost money, money many places would not spare.

They should solve the other problems first, before worrying about sidenotes.

Hrodulf and Bjornolfr, you will not be forgotten.
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[color=black]And if the world were black and white,
you would be my rainbow in shades of grey.[/color]

Click 'n Play!

If I had a fantasy self, it'd be a tentacle monster.

The problem with the UN is that they're directly or indirectly affiliated with the World Bank.

The World Bank has a history of giving out loans for the construction of multi-billion dollar dams, which in turn has forced many rural communities to relocate from their original homes where they were perfectly self-sustainable before.

I'm not saying that the intentions of the World Bank were bad (dams provide much needed power to entire cities/civilizations), but the problem with them is that they only know how to spend a billion dollars in one location at a time, which isn't the solution most of the time. The solution is to convince them to provide thousand dollar loans multiple times, instead of a multi billion dollar loan one time. As you know, the majority of people without access to clean water live in scattered/dispersed rural areas or slums, and sometimes the basic cost to build simple infracture for providing clean water amounts to a few thousand dollars at these said areas.

There'a also the problem of the multinational drink companies, who basically lease land for cheap, pump the water there, bottle it and sell it back to the very same people who could get it for free before that.

At the end of the day, these discussions/debates always boil down to "ownership of water" in the courts, which in my humble opinion, is totally absurd. Water is transient, and you can never physically own what's transient. If you bring it down to something as trivial as ownership, the ones with the deepest pockets will almost always win. The world is corrupt, like it or not.

Human Rights will always take a back seat in the presence of the money politics, unfortunately.

Just my 2 cents (well, not really mine, I learned some of it from a documentary I saw recently)

Point & Squirt

Clean water is one of the most basic human needs, so yeah everyone should the right to it, but I doubt this right will make much difference in poor areas and areas with a lack of resources. 🙁

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Personally, I don't have much faith in the UN's ability to do much of anything. End of story. So, this is really little more than a pretty gesture.

I am a breath of insanity in a world of chaos.

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#1 Stop hugging the trees.
#2 This will do nothing
#3 😕 Profit

Universal Declaration of Human Rights....is the most useless and ridiculous thing ever written. The first few laws are fine but as you go on, the laws become absurd and useless! And there is no power to enforce it.

Article 24
"Everyone has the right to rest and leisure..."

Well DUGHHHH!!!!

Not ONE country in this whole planet actually obey all the listed laws.

Gay book discussion thread

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this is not about cannibalism...please get back on topic

Quote from Toto

I think it is exactly the topic. I see nothing wrong.

No need to even state it as a human right, its plain common sense. Might as well put a sticker on someone and tell them they have the right to live.

I don't see the need to add this law.
Article 22 and 25 should be clear enough to say that water should be a human right.

And if countries don't follow all of these Articles, then I doubt adding any more will make them start.

[color=#ff0000]"“That's the difference between me and the rest of the world!
Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!” "[/color]

In my eyes, Humans just have one right

You have the right to continue living for whatever means you deem necessary

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I'll just give my input. Good ideas, but is not going to happen properly. The problem will be turning this idea into practice, and in many places, it's easy, and in many others, it's a lot harder. This should be a goal, and when the goal is met, then it can become a right. If it becomes a right too soon, then all we're going to get is a bunch of political riots.

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