Bolivia Asks UN to Declare
Water a Human Right
LA PAZ - Bolivia's Ambassador to the
United Nations Organization (UN) Pablo Solon
formally requested that entity to declare
water an irrevocable human right, national
press stated.
The state-own Agencia Bolivana de Noticias
(a news agency in Bolivia with local news
and events) duplicated the letter sent by
the diplomat to the UN in which reminds that
at this time a draft is submitted for
further analysis for presentation to the
head of the organization.
The draft will be discussed by the Member
States next weeks and the final text will be
presented by the General Assembly President
by the end of July of the current year.
It is the first time is requested to the
General Assembly to address the issue of
water and sanitation, which is not in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of
1948.
The fact that the water is not an obligatory
human right has permitted water policy
decisions passed from the UN to other
institutions which do not respond to Member
States and do not follow its decisions.
According to Solon, it is important that the
majority of the Member States to support
this resolution and to be approved in the
plain language in which it was drafted.
The Bolivian proposal appears in the
memorandum letter of the First World
People's Conference on Climate Change and
the Rights of Mother Earth that took place
last April in Cochabamba.
This issue is related to the life of
millions of people. The world in general
wants a clear signal that water is a matter
of high priority.
According to Los Tiempos newspaper the
letter recalls that when the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was
written, nobody could foresee the day on
which the water would be an area of
difficulty.
However in 2010 is not exaggerated to say
that the lack of access to clean water is
the greatest violation of human rights in
the world, the letter says.
According to official records offered by the
Ambassador lack of access to drinkable water
and sanitation services kills a child every
eight seconds, the highest death rate on the
planet.
Last, it states that every time is higher
the need to recognize this right because by
2030 the global demand for water will exceed
supply by 40 percent
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