World Water Forum: Disagreement on the rights to water

The 5th World Water Forum, which gathered more than 25,000 people during one week in Istanbul, was completed on Sunday on a statement including the need to improve access to water and sanitation around the world.

•     The concept of right of access to water, vigorously sought by many NGOs and many countries do not figure in the text, whose signature coincides with World Water Day.
  
      The text lists a number of commitments: the need to save water, especially in agriculture, fight against pollution of rivers as groundwater. It also affirms the need to collect and treat wastewater beyond the necessary access to toilets.
  
      The Ministerial Declaration is an important document that will guide the government, said the Turkish Minister of Environment, Veysel Eroglu.
  
      France, Spain and several Latin American countries and Africa have tried to change the text. The final declaration states that access to drinking water and sanitation is a basic human need and not a right.
  
      We are saddened. We were denied the opportunity to make changes in the document, said a delegate of Ethiopia.
  
      While welcoming a week of intense and productive debates, the French Partnership for Water (PFE), which includes representatives of the State, local authorities, businesses and NGOs, has deplored this Sunday that this concept is not in the ministerial declaration.
  
      Friday in Istanbul, the French Secretary of State for Ecology, Chantal Jouanno had clearly indicated that she wanted the text to be strengthened accordingly.
  
      How can we talk of human rights if you do not talk about right of access to water? It is a law that conditions all the others," she told the press.
  
      This statement also does not mention at any time the United Nations Convention on the trans-boundary Rivers. Adopted in 1997, it has still not entered into force: ratification by 35 States is required and only 16 have done so far. France has announced that it would ratify the text.
  
      The planet has more than 260 river basins shared between 145 countries.
  
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.