This thesis examines the corporate appropriation of human right to water and sanitation discourse. David Harvey’s concept of accumulation by dispossession provides the political- economic basis for this analysis while enabling a discussion of water conflicts that looks at neoliberalization strategies beyond the privatization of services. Inspired by Gramsci’s notion of a “war of position”, this thesis investigates the role of corporate appropriation of human right to water and sanitation discourse in legitimating strategies of accumulation by dispossession. Through content and critical discourse analysis of publications of a corporate policy consortium called the 2030 Water Resources Group the investigation concludes that this lobby group simultaneously undermines human rights while actively using key elements of rights discourse to advance its neoliberal water policy objectives.

No / This paper examines the scope for a rights-based perspective on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by focusing on right to water. The paper adapts Hohfeldian framework of elements of a right developed by Wenar. According to this, a right should be interpreted in terms of powers, privileges, claims and immunities. This framework highlights the inter-connections between various aspects of governance and the effectiveness of a right to water. The conjecture whether the poor are more likely to have access to water when there is a right to water is examined with data (from WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme) pertaining to a small sample of countries where a right to water has been promulgated and some others where such right has not been promulgated. The impact of governance on improving access to water is examined using indicators from Governance Matters V (Kaufman et al., 2006). This analysis suggests that mechanisms of governance may be more important in improving access to water than a formal articulation of a right to water. Some challenges to operationalising a right to water are discussed.

The thesis’s main objective was to determine if Albania was in close proximity to realize the human right to water, plainly by answering the subsequent queries; (i) if water utilization was accessible for all, and (ii) if the accessible water was of good quality (i.e. safe to drink) as well as (iii) if the economic accessibility was affordable without any discrepancy in its distribution. In sequence to answer the aforementioned queries, the thesis utilized a design of a case study since case studies are exceptionally well at endowing the researcher with an understanding of a multifaceted subject matter, i.e. Albania’s political economy of the right to water. The results of the thesis exhibits that water utilization is not accessible for all due to inadequate water amenities, and due to the large wastage of water that does not go into needed utilization. In proceeding, the results also illustrates that Albania is in deficient of water quality observation, which sequentially outcomes in unprotected water and relentless leakage. In conjunction with the findings of the thesis, it is verified that the rural areas of Albania are stricken the most, primarily because Albania does not encompass a righteous distribution of water reforms. Into the bargain, the rural areas are not only struggling with the discrepancy in the distribution of water but also with excessive costs of the diminutive amenities that are available.

Orientador: Gérson Araújo de Medeiros / Resumo: A água é essencial para a vida, por essa razão a proteção tanto do recurso quanto do acesso ao mesmo tem sido incluída em vários dos cenários internacionais de meio ambiente, saúde, segurança alimentar e Direitos Humanos; conseguindo assim que a Organização das Nações Unidas [ONU], no ano 2010, reconhecesse o acesso à água potável como um Direito Humano. Essa inclusão significa que o Direito Humano à água agora é um bem jurídico de proteção supranacional, o qual reafirma a responsabilidade de cada país de garanti-lo a sua população. Para consolidar sua positivação e realizar esse Direito os governos estabelecem diferentes normas, ações, medidas e planos que tratam também fatos indispensáveis desse direito como a disponibilidade, o acesso e a qualidade dentro da Gestão Integrada dos Recursos Hídricos [GIRH] a fim de fortalecer sua segurança hídrica. No entanto, a garantia do acesso à água potável para toda a população enfrenta inúmeros desafios, e a América Latina não é a exceção. Brasil e Colômbia, os dois países com a maior oferta hídrica na região, não têm conseguido garantir o acesso ao recurso para toda sua população. Assim, o objetivo deste documento é compreender e estudar o Direito Humano à água e sua positivação nos casos do Brasil e da Colômbia. A metodologia consistiu, numa primeira fase, na indagação e estudo do Direito Humano à água e seu desenvolvimento no Direito Internacional. Em uma segunda fase se realizou uma análise comparativa usando uma matriz e aplicando... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Water is essential for life. Therefore, the protection of the resource and access has been included in several international scenarios of environment, health, food security and Human Rights, getting in 2010 that access to drinking water were recognized as a Human Right by The United Nations [ONU]. This inclusion means that the Human right to water is now a legal right with supranational protection, which reaffirms the responsibility of each country to guarantee it to its population. In order to achieve this right, governments establish different norms, actions, measures and plans that also deal with essential facts of this right such as availability, access and quality by Integrated Water Resources Management [IWRM], in order to strengthen their water security. However, access to drinking water for the entire population faces many challenges, and Latin America is no an exception. Brazil and Colombia, two countries with the largest water supply in the region have not guaranteed that access to the resource for their entire population. The objective of this paper is to understand and study the Human Right to water and its realization in the case of Brazil and Colombia. The methodology consisted first, in the investigation and study of the Human Right to water and its development in the International Law. In a second time was made a comparative analysis, which was performed using a matrix in a deductive model. It allowed to determine the convergences and divergences between the two contexts for each item chosen in each legal framework which were: the Political Constitution of Brazil 1988, the Political Constitution of Colombia 1991, a case-law of each country where there has been some pronouncement on the right to access to water, the National Policy of Water Resources of the two countries and the International Treaties on Environment and Human Rights to include that... (Complete abstract electronic access below) / Mestre

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The South African Constitution, 1996 has placed the right to sufficient water as a Constitutional right. The provision of this right by the Constitution intends to redress the violation of human rights, to ensure that South Africa’s scarce water resources are protected from pollution and that every South African, including the poor and the marginalised, enjoys them. Consequently, the Constitution has placed a legal obligation on the government to realise the right to have access to sufficient water. In order for the government to fulfil its obligation to provide water as a right for present and future generations, it will need to implement the relevant legislation effectively to protect the country’s water resources. This study analyses Section 27 of the Constitution, which provides for the right to access to water, and the role of sustainability in conserving and protecting water resources, given the recurring water challenges.

Doctor Legum - LLD / Lack of universal access to water is one of the fundamental failures of development in the 21st century. Women not only disproportionately bear the burden of lack of safe water but also have the least opportunity to take part in decisions regarding water services. This is a manifestation of the global water crisis caused by unequal relations of power, poverty and inequality related to gender, geographical location, class and race. Those who lack power find themselves at the peripheral of advantage from governance of water services. This thesis thus argues that the iconic slogan 'water is life' must be understood in both a biological and social sense. The social sense entails participatory living of citizens as equals in a community with others. The human right to water guarantees such living by recognising people as agents who must have power to affect outcomes through genuine participation. Participation is not a new thing especially in development approaches such as market-centred approaches of 1980s were different forms of participation in projects and programmes by states and development partners were advanced. These approaches resulted in participation as a tyranny, a mechanism of co-optation and legitimising the exercise of unjust power that perpetrates inequalities by sidelining the majority. The thesis identifies capability approach and the human right based approach to development as offering the best conception of participation away from concentration of power and pursuit of profit in the hands of a few elite. Capabilities and human rights treat people as human beings with the dignity and respect owed to every human being as a moral being and understand development as the development of certain human abilities or capabilities. This development of people and communities, as opposed to goods and services, is only possible if people participate effectively in the governance of development processes. Their emphasis is to go beyond ensuring the benefit of 'having' for instance water to also embrace the benefit of 'being' an equal citizen, sharing the benefits of 'participatory living' in a community of equals. The advantage of the human right based approach is that it has a strong foundation in law that compels states to act in a certain way to ensure legally recognised claims. The thesis establishes that there is a legally protected claim to water under the human right to water which is binding on states although the human right to water is unenumerated in the mainstream human rights treaties except for specified groups and situations. The claim to water under this human right is both in terms of a substantive normative standard and a procedural normative standard that guarantees beyond the human mode of 'having' into 'being' i.e. being a full member of society. These claims are legally binding and therefore enforceable against states. The human right to water requires states to adopt legislative and other non legislative measures that result in adequate and accessible water of good quality for all. States must take immediate, deliberate and concrete steps that include the formulation and implementation of national water policies and strategies in a transparent and nondiscriminatory manner to realise the human right to water. The formulation and implementation of national policies and strategies must ensure participation, human agency and dignity of all those affected by such decisions. The recognition of the human right to water in Malawi will provide an effective way of overcoming the lack of power and the 'tyranny of participation' which characterise water services in rural and peri-urban areas. / Norwegian Research Council

"Against the preceding background, the phenomenon of privatisation has come to be a particularly important factor with respect to the progressive realisation of the right to water. Privatisation is the process of transferring property from public ownership to private ownership or transferring management of a service or activity from government to the private sector There has been a rapid growth in the privatisation of essential services in many African states, based on the belief that the private sector can deliver growth and efficiency more effectively than the public sector. This supposition has not been borne out by the available evidence. Cote d'Ivorie was the first African state to privatise its water delivery system in 1960. Since then, over 18 major water contracts have been awarded by at least 14 African states, including Senegal and South Africa, to private concernts for the delivery of water. A host of other states are planning to or are already in the process of privatising their water delivery systems. The main impetus behind this spate of sometimes frenzied privatisation, has been the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who make the privatisation of public services or utilities an unavoidable condition for loans to African states. These two institutions have however, quite recently, come under serious pressure to fundamentally rethink the use of conditionality and have initiated a series of evaluations which are expected to result in some critical conclusions. This study aims to demonstrate through the two case studies of Senegal and South Africa that privatisation of water by African states can affect the process of 'progressive realisation' and may actually result in the violation of the right to water guaranteed under international human rights law. It investigates whether privatisation of water by African states affects the obligation of progressive realisation of the right to water. The choice of Senegal and South Africa is based on the fact that studies on the development and impact of water privatisation in both states have been carried out and futher whilst Senegal is an example of 'privatisation forced by the World Bank', South Africa is not. In addition, both states are parties to international human rights instruments that implicitly or explicitly guarantee the right to water. ... Chapter 2 will discuss the 'right to water' and the obligation of progressive ralisation with regard to the overall promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights. It will examine whether such a right actually exists under international human rights law, its nature and extent and the content of the obligation to progressively realise it. Chapter 3 will focus on the process of privatisation, its varous forms and the impetus for such a process. It will also explore arguments in support of, and against, privatisation. Chapter 4 will analyse the impact of privatisation on the obligation to progressively realise the right to water by looking at the situation pre- and post-privatisation. Some concluding remarks will be made in chapter 5." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / Prepared under the supervision of Prof. J. Oloka-Onyango at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The objectives of the study are to: (1) Critically analyse the 1959 Nile River agreements from a human rights perspective (2) examine the applicability of international human rights law in water distribution and use and (3) investigating how human rights norms and principles can be used, if at all, as a means of solving water conflicts over the use of trans-boundary rivers. The study adopts a human rights approach in its consideration of the problem of conflicts that may arise in connection with the use of trans-boundary rivers. It is particularly significant as it seeks to explore the solution from the human rights of the people in the riparian countries. It is believed that the study will contribute to the development of basin-wide cooperation among riparians by being employed in negotiations and planning of projects. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr Raymond A. Atuguba of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana Legon, Accra, Ghana / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

La gouvernance du Bassin du Nil est un vrai défi, puisqu’il s’agit de concilier les intérêts de onze Etats riverains. Son caractère instable est dû à l’existence d’une pluralité de régimes juridiques sur les eaux du Nil. Le processus d’élaboration des accords sur les eaux du Nil, explique leur disparité. Les Etats riverains ont créé un cadre coopératif, appelé Initiative du Bassin du Nil, pour tenter de faire converger leurs intérêts et promouvoir le développement régional. Or, l’étude du droit positif sur les eaux du Nil, démontre une grande instabilité politique et juridique. C’est pourquoi, nous avons tenté de chercher un moyen pour dépasser ces divergences dans une perspective de gouvernance durable du Bassin du Nil. L’harmonisation des régimes juridiques sur les eaux du Nil pourrait être une solution viable. Celle-ci repose sur la qualification des eaux du Nil de Bien Public Régional qui nécessite la réadaptation du concept de souveraineté, ce qui a conduit à proposer l’instauration d’une « souveraineté commune sur l’eau ». / The governance of the Nile Basin is a challenge as it is to reconcile the interests of the eleven riparian States. Its instability is due to the existence of a plurality of legal regimes on the Nile. The development process of the agreements on the Nile, explains their differences. The riparian States have established a cooperative framework called the Nile Basin Initiative, to try to converge their interests and promote regional development. Nevertheless, the study of the positive law on the Nile, demonstrates a great legal and political instability. Therefore, we have tried to find out a way to overcome these differences in a sustainable governance of the Nile Basin. The harmonization of legal regimes on the Nile could be a viable solution. This is based on the qualification of the Nile waters of Regional Public Good, which requires the rehabilitation of the concept of sovereignty, which led to suggest the establishing of a "common sovereignty on the water."

Naguère perçue comme une ressource inépuisable, nous assistons actuellement à une crise mondiale de l’eau douce. Dans ce contexte, il est primordial de vérifier si et comment les individus peuvent bénéficier d’une protection adéquate en ce qui a trait à la fourniture d’eau et comment une telle protection pourrait être mise en place. Au moyen d’une approche juridicopolitique, le présent mémoire vise à renforcer l’existence d’un droit de l’homme à l’eau et à analyser la problématique de la gestion des ressources en eau à travers différents accords commerciaux et la gouvernance de l’eau, à l’échelle internationale et au Canada. Au final, le mémoire démontre qu’il pourrait exister une telle protection puisqu’un droit à l’eau évolue en droit international, mais le caractère exécutoire de ce droit est conditionnel à sa reconnaissance par les États. L’observation de ce cas a plutôt mis en lumière une tendance à la privatisation des ressources en eau à l’échelle internationale, tendance qui devrait être révisée afin que le droit à l’eau puisse être réalisé pour tous. / Formerly considered as an inexhaustible resource, there is presently a global fresh water shortage.In this context, it is essential to verify if and how we can assure adequate protection of the water supply and how such a protection could be put in place. Using a juridico-political approach, the purpose of this thesis is to reinforce the existence of a human right to water and to analyze water management problems through various trade agreements and water governance structures, internationally and in Canada. Our analysis reveals the evolution of a human right to water in international law but its enforceability is preconditioned to the recognition of this right by States. Our observations highlight an international tendency toward privatizing water resources, a tendency that should be revised to ensure the realization of a right to water for all.