The content of the human right to water. A legal-political analysis from the Latin-American standpoint

MARTÍN, LIBER; PINTO, MAURICIO

Recife

Congreso; XIV IWRA World Water Congress 2011; 2011

IWRA

This paper explores the key points of water as a human right (HRW) from the Latin American point of view. This is because although the HRW is a universal right, the problems with its articulation, content and implementation vary according to legal and political context. Among other legal premises, the paper states that HRW has been recognized by law first as a common use of water, then as a public service and finally as a human right. Nowadays, all these different conceptions are part of a complex regulation that must be integrated to current concrete water law institutions. The paper discusses, existing rights, water allocations, limits, suspension for unpaid drinking water service, etc. Furthermore, the paper analyze critically, the international legal discourse on human rights, the recent UN General Assembly resolution (2010) and highlights that HRW is not only a legal matter or a water availability issue but an economic problem and therefore a problem of poor countries or regions.