Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The worsening scarcity of fresh water resources has led to an increasing number of people without sustainable access to safe water across the globe. Water privatisation has been presented as the panacea to addressing the global water crisis. Privatisation of water has heightened the impetus for the explicit recognition of water as a human right. This dissertation seeks to establish the legal status of the right to water under international human rights law. The dissertation further attempts to ascertain the scope and normative content of such a right. In order to answer these questions, this dissertation carries out a detailed analysis of the possible legal basis, scope and normative content of the right to water under international human rights law. The principal question that arises is how a State can ensure compliance with its human rights obligations in the event of involvement of non-State actors such as private corporations in the management and distribution of water services. This dissertation‘s main hypothesis is that although privatisation of water services does not relieve the State of its legal responsibility under international human rights law, such privatisation imposes certain obligations on private actors consistent with the right to water. The dissertation goes beyond articulating normative considerations and looks at implementation at the national level by highlighting good practices on the practical implementation of the right to water consistent with the normative standards imposed by the right. The dissertation‘s key contribution is its development of an accountability model to ensure that States and private actors involved in the provision of water services have clearly designated roles and responsibilities consistent with the human right to water. If properly implemented, the model has the potential to give greater specification to the normative commitments imposed by the right to water in privatisation scenarios. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die verergerende skaarste van vars water bronne het aanleiding gegee tot die toename in die hoeveelheid mense sonder volhoubare toegang tot veilige water oor die hele aarde. Dit word aangevoer dat die privatisering van water die wondermiddel is om die globale water krisis aan te spreek. Die privatisering van water het aanleiding gegee tot 'n verskerpte aandrang om water uitdruklik te erken as 'n mensereg. Hierdie proefskrif poog om die regsstatus van die reg tot water te vestig binne die raamwerk van internasionale menseregte. Die proefskrif probeer verder om vas te stel wat die omvang en normatiewe inhoud van so 'n reg sal wees. Vervolgens voltrek hierdie proefskrif 'n uitvoerige analise van die moontlike regsbasis, omvang en normatiewe inhoud van die reg tot water binne die raamwerk van internasionale menseregte. Die vernaamste vraag wat opduik is hoe 'n Staat kan verseker dat sy menseregte verpligtinge nagekom word waar nie-Regeringsrolspelers soos korporasies betrokke is by die bestuur en distribusie van waterdienste. Die kern hipotese van hierdie proefskrif is dat alhoewel die privatisering van waterdienste nie die Staat verlig van sy regsverpligtinge in terme van internasionale menseregte nie, sodanige privatisering sekere verpligtinge aan privaatrolspelers voorskryf wat in lyn is met die reg op water. Hierdie proefskrif gaan verder as die artikulering van normatiewe oorwegings en kyk ook na die implementering op nasionale vlak deur goeie praktyke uit te lig met betrekking tot die prakiese implementering van die reg tot water wat konsekwent is met die normatiewe standaarde wat die reg voorskryf. Die kern bydrae van hierdie proefskrif is die ontwikkeling van 'n aanspreeklikheismodel wat versker dat Regerings en privaat rolspelers wat betrokke is by die voorsiening van waterdienste duidelik aangewysde funksies en verantwoordelikhede het wat in lyn is met die reg tot water. Indien hierdie model behoorlik implementeer word, het dit die potensiaal om grooter spesifikasie te gee aan die normatiewe verpligtinge wat deur die reg tot water voorgeskryf word in privatiserings scenarios.

Pas de résumé en français / Pas de résumé en anglais

O Direito Internacional Contemporâneo é um sistema pluralista e tem se defrontado com temas os mais diversos na atual agenda internacional. Um dos temas que têm merecido a preocupação do Direito Internacional é a chamada crise da água, assim entendida como a escassez, a poluição, a crise de abastecimento, a sede do setor privado para entrar nesse mercado e os diversos conflitos internacionais em torno da água. A problemática da água envolve, principalmente, três áreas distintas do Direito Internacional, a saber: o Direito do Comércio Internacional, o Direito Internacional do Meio Ambiente e o Direito Internacional dos Direitos Humanos. Para lidar com essa problemática e trazer soluções concretas à questão da água, a presente pesquisa sugere um diálogo entre essas distintas áreas do Direito. Parte do pressuposto do Direito Internacional como um sistema, apesar dos seus distintos regimes, identificando-o frente ao fenômeno da globalização e seu consequente fenômeno da governança global, emoldurado por distintos atores internacionais, distintas normas de direito e distintos fóruns de aplicação. Apresenta o Regime do Comércio Internacional e o Regime do Meio Ambiente Internacional, nos quais já se inserem as questões hídricas, e identifica possíveis diálogos entre esses regimes, moldados pela noção de desenvolvimento sustentável. Afirma a existência do Regime Internacional da Água Doce e suas duas bases de construção estrutural e desenvolvimento: o Direito Internacional da Água Doce para fins diversos da navegação e o Direito Humano à Água. Apresenta os elementos de cada uma dessas defesas e conclui pela existência e desenvolvimento desse regime, cuja consolidação deve ser feita através de um diálogo com o Regime do Comércio Internacional. Nesse proposto diálogo, apresenta dois tipos de interação entre regimes: a interação conflitual e a interação relacional. Como interação conflitual, faz dialogar as normas do GATT e do GATS com as normas do Regime Internacional da Água Doce. Como interação relacional, traz propostas concretas que harmonizam o comércio internacional e a proteção das águas doces, a saber: a criação de uma agência especializada, no âmbito da ONU, para assuntos hídricos; a criação de uma Convenção Quadro sobre recursos hídricos e a criação de um Mecanismo de Desenvolvimento Limpo para a água e seu consequente mercado de water certificates. Após detalhar esse hibridismo das normas sobre recursos hídricos, conclui pela legitimidade dessa interação relacional e pelos ganhos que podem advir em favor de um desenvolvimento sustentável, através desse diálogo entre o Direito do Comércio Internacional e o Direito à Água. / The contemporary International Law is a pluralistic system that has faced distinct issues in the contemporary international agenda. One of these issues is the so termed water crisis, which comprises scarcity, pollution, water supply matters, the eagerness of the private sector to dominate it and the different international water conflicts. Water issues have mainly evolved through three different subjects of International Law: International Trade Law, International Environmental Law and International Law of Human Rights. To deal with these issues and to bring about real solutions to the water crisis, this research suggests a dialogue between these three different law subjects. It starts with the conjecture that International Law is a system, despite its different regimes, and identifies it within the phenomenon of globalization and its consequent phenomenon of global governance - shaped by distinct international actors, distinct rules and distinct adjudication fora. It presents the International Trade Regime and the International Environmental Regime, within which the water issues can be found, and points out possible dialogues between these regimes, shaped by the notion of sustainable development. It affirms the existence of the International Freshwater Regime and its two structural and developmental bases: the International Law of Non-Navigational Uses of Watercourses and the Human Right to Water. It introduces each element of these two subsystems and it concludes for the existence and development of the International Freshwater Regime, whose consolidation should be built on a dialogue with the International Trade Regime. Within such a proposal of dialogue, it presents two kinds of regime interaction: a conflict interaction and a relational interaction. As a conflict interaction, it brings about a dialogue between the GATT and the GATS rules and the International Freshwater Regime rules. As a relational interaction, it points out real instruments to harmonize international trade law and freshwater protection: the creation of a specialized agency under the United Nations auspices; the creation of an umbrella-convention on water resources; and the creation of a clean development mechanism and its consequent water certificates market. After explaining the hybridism of the water resources rules, it concludes for the legitimacy of this relational interaction and the gains it may have towards a sustainable development through a dialogue between International Trade Law and the Right to Water.

Rural communities have, for much of history, been left with inadequate or no water service. This is because the traditional state/private dichotomy of water provision is inadequate for addressing the unique needs of small, isolated communities. Drawing from the Common-Pool Resource literature, co-management arose in recent decades as a solution to address this pandemic of rural water exclusion. In Costa Rica, co-management takes the form of community water associations known as ASADAS. This thesis explores the successes and challenges of ASADAS through the use of three case study communities. Using interviews, surveys, water sampling and national legislation in addition to secondary sources, this thesis seeks to understand the possibilities and limits of employing co-management as a tool for achieving the human right to water in Costa Rica and around the globe.

La tesi mira a verificare l'effettiva esistenza del diritto umano all'acqua potabile. A questo fine viene studiata l'evoluzione del pensiero giuridico sull'accesso all'acqua potabile attraverso i principali strumenti di soft law, i le posizioni della dottrina e della giurisprudenza. Dal momento che l'accesso all'acqua potabile non compare nelle principali convenzioni dedicate ai diritti umani viene studiato il processo inferenziale che ha portato buona parte della dottrina a sostenere l'esistenza di tale diritto. Una volta individuato una comune definizione di diritto all'acqua, se ne analizzano le componenti, le obbligazioni ad esso relative e i legami tra tale diritto e gli altri diritti umani; a questo proposito viene proposta una breve analisi dell'esistenza di un diritto di accesso a fini agricoli. La conclusione si articola intorno all'ipotesi di un processo consuetudinario di formazione del diritto. Particolare attenzione a questo riguardo è posto sulle opinio iuris degli Stati che si sono espressi sul diritto all'acqua nelle più recenti risoluzioni dell'Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite e del Consiglio per i Diritti dell'Uomo. / This thesis aims to investigate the existence of a human right to safe and potable water within the international law. As none of the main covenant related to human rights explicitly mentions the right to water, an inferential process used by doctrine had to be analysed in order to verify whether it was consistent with the purpose of affirming the existence of such a human right. Also main instruments of soft law have been studied. Particularly the latest resolution of the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council have been accurately studied in order to verify the existence of a common "opinio iuris" among States. We consider that today a common opinion has actually emerged and therefore we suggest in conclusion to address a future research on the issue towards the analysis of State practices in order to verify the emerging of a customary right.

O Direito Internacional Contemporâneo é um sistema pluralista e tem se defrontado com temas os mais diversos na atual agenda internacional. Um dos temas que têm merecido a preocupação do Direito Internacional é a chamada crise da água, assim entendida como a escassez, a poluição, a crise de abastecimento, a sede do setor privado para entrar nesse mercado e os diversos conflitos internacionais em torno da água. A problemática da água envolve, principalmente, três áreas distintas do Direito Internacional, a saber: o Direito do Comércio Internacional, o Direito Internacional do Meio Ambiente e o Direito Internacional dos Direitos Humanos. Para lidar com essa problemática e trazer soluções concretas à questão da água, a presente pesquisa sugere um diálogo entre essas distintas áreas do Direito. Parte do pressuposto do Direito Internacional como um sistema, apesar dos seus distintos regimes, identificando-o frente ao fenômeno da globalização e seu consequente fenômeno da governança global, emoldurado por distintos atores internacionais, distintas normas de direito e distintos fóruns de aplicação. Apresenta o Regime do Comércio Internacional e o Regime do Meio Ambiente Internacional, nos quais já se inserem as questões hídricas, e identifica possíveis diálogos entre esses regimes, moldados pela noção de desenvolvimento sustentável. Afirma a existência do Regime Internacional da Água Doce e suas duas bases de construção estrutural e desenvolvimento: o Direito Internacional da Água Doce para fins diversos da navegação e o Direito Humano à Água. Apresenta os elementos de cada uma dessas defesas e conclui pela existência e desenvolvimento desse regime, cuja consolidação deve ser feita através de um diálogo com o Regime do Comércio Internacional. Nesse proposto diálogo, apresenta dois tipos de interação entre regimes: a interação conflitual e a interação relacional. Como interação conflitual, faz dialogar as normas do GATT e do GATS com as normas do Regime Internacional da Água Doce. Como interação relacional, traz propostas concretas que harmonizam o comércio internacional e a proteção das águas doces, a saber: a criação de uma agência especializada, no âmbito da ONU, para assuntos hídricos; a criação de uma Convenção Quadro sobre recursos hídricos e a criação de um Mecanismo de Desenvolvimento Limpo para a água e seu consequente mercado de water certificates. Após detalhar esse hibridismo das normas sobre recursos hídricos, conclui pela legitimidade dessa interação relacional e pelos ganhos que podem advir em favor de um desenvolvimento sustentável, através desse diálogo entre o Direito do Comércio Internacional e o Direito à Água. / The contemporary International Law is a pluralistic system that has faced distinct issues in the contemporary international agenda. One of these issues is the so termed water crisis, which comprises scarcity, pollution, water supply matters, the eagerness of the private sector to dominate it and the different international water conflicts. Water issues have mainly evolved through three different subjects of International Law: International Trade Law, International Environmental Law and International Law of Human Rights. To deal with these issues and to bring about real solutions to the water crisis, this research suggests a dialogue between these three different law subjects. It starts with the conjecture that International Law is a system, despite its different regimes, and identifies it within the phenomenon of globalization and its consequent phenomenon of global governance - shaped by distinct international actors, distinct rules and distinct adjudication fora. It presents the International Trade Regime and the International Environmental Regime, within which the water issues can be found, and points out possible dialogues between these regimes, shaped by the notion of sustainable development. It affirms the existence of the International Freshwater Regime and its two structural and developmental bases: the International Law of Non-Navigational Uses of Watercourses and the Human Right to Water. It introduces each element of these two subsystems and it concludes for the existence and development of the International Freshwater Regime, whose consolidation should be built on a dialogue with the International Trade Regime. Within such a proposal of dialogue, it presents two kinds of regime interaction: a conflict interaction and a relational interaction. As a conflict interaction, it brings about a dialogue between the GATT and the GATS rules and the International Freshwater Regime rules. As a relational interaction, it points out real instruments to harmonize international trade law and freshwater protection: the creation of a specialized agency under the United Nations auspices; the creation of an umbrella-convention on water resources; and the creation of a clean development mechanism and its consequent water certificates market. After explaining the hybridism of the water resources rules, it concludes for the legitimacy of this relational interaction and the gains it may have towards a sustainable development through a dialogue between International Trade Law and the Right to Water.

Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-05-23T13:23:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ygorazevedosoaresdesouza.pdf: 1697624 bytes, checksum: 3233915753142bb0b6920f5f5a01e048 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-05-24T17:53:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ygorazevedosoaresdesouza.pdf: 1697624 bytes, checksum: 3233915753142bb0b6920f5f5a01e048 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-24T17:53:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ygorazevedosoaresdesouza.pdf: 1697624 bytes, checksum: 3233915753142bb0b6920f5f5a01e048 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-23 / No intento de contribuir com a busca pela universalização do acesso à água e ao saneamento no Brasil, a pesquisa trata, em um primeiro momento, de refletir acerca do direito à água, tanto na perspectiva do direito natural quanto do reconhecimento jurídico. É notório que há, de fato, um amplo arcabouço jurídico, aplicável ao território nacional brasileiro, que enquadra a água enquanto um direito humano básico. Em contraponto, é perceptível que existe, de forma expressiva, a negação desse direito, ou seja, há uma materialidade espacial de violação do direito à água. Assim, é construído o panorama empírico da violação no Brasil a partir de dados que expressam a magnitude do não acesso e sua espacialização, bem como dados que demonstram a relação entre as águas e suas implicações para saúde pública. Por fim, os conflitos por acesso á água são evocados para evidenciar contextos em que o direito está em situação de violação ou sob ameaça. Essa problemática é trabalhada à luz de conceitos e categorias geográficas com objetivo de ressaltar o lócus de reprodução da violação do direito. Nesse ínterim, a interpretação trazida a partir do conceito de “reprodução capitalista do espaço” e da categoria “território”, permite perceber a perversidade e as conseqüências da primazia do valor de troca sobre o valor de uso. No campo das possibilidades, o apontamento se volta para o horizonte da descentralização e da participação social na gestão dos recursos hídricos, enquanto instrumentos e mecanismos de suma importância para democratização do acesso à água. / In the attempt to contribute to the search for the universalization of access to water and sanitation in Brazil, the research is, at first, to reflect on the right to water, both in the perspective of natural law and legal recognition. It is notorious that there is, in fact, a broad legal framework applicable to the Brazilian national territory, which frames water as a basic human right. In contrast, it is noticeable that there is, expressively, the denial of this right, that is, there is a spatial materiality of violation of the right to water. Thus, the empirical panorama of rape in Brazil is constructed from data that express the magnitude of non-access and its spatialization, as well as data that demonstrate the relationship between water and its implications for public health. Finally, conflicts over access to water are evoked to highlight contexts in which the law is in a situation of violation or threat. Then, the problem is worked in light of concepts and geographical categories in order to highlight the locus of reproduction of the violation of law. In the meantime, the interpretation brought from the concept of "capitalist reproduction of space" and of the category "territory" allows us to perceive the perversity and consequences of the primacy of exchange value over the value of use. In the field of possibilities, the point is made towards the horizon of decentralization and social participation in the management of water resources, as instruments and mechanisms of utmost importance for the democratization of access to water.

La thèse analyse la trajectoire du problème de l’accès à l’eau en France, sur trois décennies. Dans un contexte de « nouvelle pauvreté », on constate le passage progressif d’une logique d’action publique fondée sur l’assistance discrétionnaire à une logique de solidarité basée sur des droits sociaux. On retrouve ce glissement tant dans le domaine du logement, de l’énergie, que de l’eau. Pour l’eau, se dessine une trajectoire qui nous conduit du « social de l’eau » à « l’eau sociale ». Le social de l’eau est basé sur : l’affirmation d’un droit à l’aide ;l’externalisation de la gestion de cette aide ; le rôle de contributeur des services pour cette gestion ; une approche curative des problèmes. En regard, le modèle de l’eau sociale se fonde sur : l’internalisation de la question sociale dans des services d’eau, jouant désormais un rôle plus actif ; l’instauration d’un droit à l’eau ; l’émergence d’une approche préventive des problèmes. / This doctoral thesis analyses the trajectory of the problem of access to water for low-income customers in France over the last three decades. In a context of “new poverty”, we observe a gradual evolution from logics of public action based on discretionary assistance to logics of solidarity based on social rights. This evolution can be observed in different fields including housing, energy and water. In the case of water, we uncover a trajectory leading from “welfare of water” to“social water”. The welfare of water is based on: the assertion of a right to receive help, the externalization of the right to this help, the contribution of utilities to its management and funding, and a curative approach to problems. However, “social water” is based on: the internalization of the social issue in water utilities - which play from now on a more active role - , the instauration of a right to water, and the emergence of a preventive approach to problems.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / In this thesis, I explore the allocation and use of water for productive and domestic purposes in the village of Siyandhani in the Klein Letaba sub-area, and how the allocation and use is being affected by new water resource management and water services provision legislation and policies in the context of water reform. This problem is worth studying because access to water for domestic and productive purposes is a critical dimension of poverty alleviation.The study focuses in particular on the extent to which policy objectives of greater equity in resource allocation and poverty alleviation are being achieved at local level with the following specific objectives: to establish water resources availability in Letaba/Shingwedzi sub-region, specifically surface and groundwater and examine water uses by different sectors (e.g. agriculture, industry, domestic, forestry etc.,); to explore the dynamics of existing formal and informal institutions for water resources management and water services provision and the relationship between and among them; to investigate the practice of allocation and use of domestic water; to investigate the practice of allocation and use of irrigation water.The study concludes that there is a problem of water scarcity in the study area and that the water scarcity is caused by the growth in the population, specifically in the Giyani area; these problems are exacerbated by financial and institutional obstacles within local institutions of governance. The water scarcity is not, therefore, natural but anthropogenic in nature.The water scarcity is not felt by all sectors, however: some farmers have access to water for irrigation, while many others face great challenges in their farming activities.Overall, people in Siyandhani and surrounding villages surrounding villages in the Letaba Catchment do not have access to water because of human action, hence the use of the concept of manufactured scarcity. The lack of access to water, it is argued,leads to the violation of the human right to water. This study concludes that water reform, which is widely seen as a priority for South Africa, has not yet reached the villages of the Klein Letaba.

Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht einen Begriff der Versorgungsgerechtigkeit im Kontext der Trinkwasserversorgung zu konturieren, der auf Nachhaltigkeit hin programmiert ist. Das bedeutet im Sinne des Drei-Säulen-Modells der Nachhaltigkeit, dass beim Verfolg dieses sozialen Zieles, sogleich die ökologischen und ökonomischen Bedingungen mit-gedacht werden sollen. Zugrunde liegt die Annahme, dass so auch das soziale Ziel bes-ser erreicht werden kann. Grundkonzept ist vor diesem Hintergrund, einen Begriff der Versorgungsgerechtigkeit zu entwickeln, der das Spannungsfeld der aristotelischen Unterscheidung von iustitia distributiva und iustitia commutativa umgreift. Erstere richtet ihren Blick auf den ein-zelnen privaten Haushalt mit seinen Bedarfen und Möglichkeiten. Hier stellt sich für diese Arbeit besonders und in erster Linie die Frage, welche Bedingungen seiner Was-sernachfrage jeweils für den Haushalt zumutbar sind. Letztere sorgt hingegen für einen (Interessen-) Ausgleich zwischen dem jeweiligen Wasserkonsumenten und all jenen Teilen der Gesellschaft (inkl. ökologischer Umwelt), die von dieser Wassernutzung be-troffen sind (stakeholder). Sie schlägt den Bogen zu den ökologischen und ökonomischen Nachhaltigkeitsbelangen. Dieses Spannungsfeld wird übertragen auf den Begriff des „Zugangs“, der in der Recht-auf-Wasser-Debatte Grundlage für eine Debatte zur Umsetzung ist. Richtet man den Blick – auf „Zugang“ – auf die Zugangshürden (z. B. der Wasserpreis), dann wird deutlich, dass diese Hürden (potenziell) Nachhaltigkeitsfunktionen erfüllen (z. B. Refinanzierung von Dienstleistungen, Schutz aquatischer Ökosysteme). Das zentrale Ergebnis lautet: Versorgungsgerechtigkeit, mithin ein „angemessener Zugang“, ist gegeben, wenn die Zugangshürden, denen sich der Nutzer gegenübersieht (nachhaltigkeits-)funktional, zumutbar und außerdem nicht-diskriminierend sind. Im weiteren Verlauf der Arbeit wird u. a. das Verhältnis von Funktionalität und Zumut-barkeit definiert, werden Messkonzepte zur Zumutbarkeit (affordability) betrachtet und werden Ansatzpunkte einer Politik der Versorgungsgerechtigkeit diskutiert.:Kapitel 1: Einleitung Kapitel 2: Die Versorgung mit Wasserdienstleistungen als ökonomisches Allokationsproblem Kapitel 3: Versorgungsgerechtigkeit und Wasserpreis Kapitel 4: Versorgungsgerechtigkeit und Güterzugang: Zur Umsetzung eines Rechts auf Wasser Kapitel 5: Die Zumutbarkeit der pekuniären Hürde „Preis“: Zur Messung von affordability Kapitel 6: Instrumente der Versorgungsgerechtigkeit Kapitel 7: Zusammenfassung, Fazit und Ausblick