WCC NEWS: WCC calls governments for implementation of water as human right

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC CALLS GOVERNMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF WATER AS HUMAN RIGHT

For immediate release: 22 February 2011

At their meeting this week the WCC Central Committee issued a statement
strongly welcoming the recognition of water and sanitation as a human
right by the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Human Rights
Council.

In July 2010, the UN General Assembly had approved a resolution recognizing
“the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human
right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human
rights”. Three months later the Human Rights Council affirmed the same
position.

Following this development, the WCC Central Committee now urged its member
churches to continue the advocacy work affirming the right to water as the
right to life.

Since the 2006 World Council of Churches (WCC) 9th Assembly in Porto
Alegre, Brazil, efforts to promote the human right to water and sanitation
have been made through the Ecumenical Water Network, a WCC-based
international network of churches and Christian organizations, promoting
preservation, responsible management and the equitable distribution of
water.

“As churches we are called to serve and be examples in the way we use and
share water,” the WCC statement declares.

At the national level, the Central Committee encouraged governments to
continue their engagement but to take further steps in order “to
incorporate the right to water and sanitation into national legislation
and policies”.

The statement points out that only a few countries, like the United Kingdom
and Canada continue to oppose the full recognition of the right to water
and sanitation.

It challenged those governments by underlining “that access to water and
sanitation are legally binding human rights” and urged political leaders
to “apply the right to water as a guide, safeguard, and yardstick” for
their legislative actions.

On the international level, the statement calls “for the establishment of
a mandate for a Special Rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation at
the UN Human Rights Council.”

The Ecumenical Water Network will continue its advocacy for implementation
of the right to water and sanitation with the Seven Weeks for Water Lent
campaign 2011. “This campaign seeks to raise awareness among the
churches on water, conflict and just peace,” Maike Gorsboth, coordinator
of the Ecumenical Water Network, said.

“The acknowledgement of water and sanitation as human rights is a part of
building just peace. The Seven Weeks for Water campaign is taking up this
sign of hope and encourages the churches to get involved by ways of
biblical and theological reflection and action,” she said.

Full text of the water statement (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=579febb06b9003c0a5d0 )

EWN website (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fa32f180c57d4cd0ff47 
)

Seven Weeks for Water (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ba801e077b49f1c36497 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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