The State Duty to Protect from Business-Related Human Rights Violations in Water and Sanitation Services: Regulatory and BITs Implications

MARTÍN, LIBER; BOHOSLAVSKY, JUAN PABLO; JUSTO, JUAN

Warsaw

Workshop; European International Studies Association Young Researchers? Workshop, The State Duty to Protect from Business-Related Human Rights Violations: Tracking the Emergence, Diffusion and Impact of an International Norm; 2013

European International Studies Association Young Researchers

The human right to water and sanitation (HRWS) has called primary attention since General Comment N° 15 (GC 15) -issued in 2002 by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights- interpreted articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Since then, much has been written on this human right, but very little on the existing linkage between it and private corporations providing public water and sanitation services (WSS), and even less on the regulatory and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) implications of the state´s duty to protect this right. This paper will therefore study the state´s duty to protect from business-related human rights violations in the specific field of WSS from two interrelated perspectives. On one hand, the domestic regulatory front, which raises questions such as: Should regulation of private water and sanitation companies be based on human rights standards? If so, to what extent? What are the concrete regulatory implications of the two previous responses? Has existing case law outlined minimum regulatory standards based on international human rights norms? On the other hand, in terms of international liability, the following questions are crucial: How should we interpret BITs that protect foreign companies providing water and sanitation in light of the state´s duty to protect from business-related human rights violations? How to reconcile the state´s BITs commitments with its obligations under human rights treaties in WSS?