why democratic outcomes have not delivered for the poor: the case of the right to water
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Why democratic outcomes have not delivered for the poor: The case of the right to water. Dr Lyla Mehta Institute of Development Studies, UK Visiting Professor, Norwegian University of Life Science . Outline. Politics and contestations of water Unresolved issues around the right to water - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Why democratic outcomes have not delivered for the poor: The
case of the right to waterDr Lyla Mehta
Institute of Development Studies, UK Visiting Professor, Norwegian
University of Life Science
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Outline• Politics and contestations of water• Unresolved issues around the right to
water • Unequal citizenship / elite biases of the
State• Rights talk and rights practice (South
Africa; Bolivia) • Despite problems, rights still matter
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Contestations around water• Water as a contested resource• Water policies – Benthamian logic / utilitarian • Aggregate and technocentric notions of
scarcity/ crises• Recently rights based (e.g. South Africa,
Bolivia) • Exclusions, conflicts, rights violations • Sustainability - beyond supply/ quality• Silo-driven discourses – WSS; WRM;
sanitation; waste
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The human right to water • The right to water is implicitly mentioned in the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human rights and is explicitly mentioned only in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989).
• Recent endorsements : General Comment No. 15 2002; UN 2010 General Assembly Resolution and UN Human Rights Council Resolution
• Right to water still controversial on many fronts. ‘Indivisibility’ of rights not recognised in practice.
• In the water debate, dominant narratives are happier to see water as an economic good rather than as a human right.
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Why Rights Matter • Justiciable and legally binding• Markets cannot guarantee the provision of
all goods on a fair basis to all citizens• Key element of citizenship • Counterveiling force against
commodification• Powerful tool of mobilisation to local
struggles and claims
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Unresolved issues of the human right to water
• What does legally binding really mean in local, national and international contexts?
• Individualistic , anthropocentric and state centric • Regulatory frameworks v. weak in the case of
non state and private actors • Not incompatible with ‘private sector provision –
‘neutral as to economic models’ (OHCHR 2010)
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Unresolved environmental dimensions to RTW
• Tensions between access/ social justice and environmental quality/ nature
• RTW as balancing environmental risks and benefits between poor and rich
• Ecosystem sustainability – environmental flows of water need to be protected by law (e.g ecological reserve )
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Unequal citizenship
• Modern state created distinctions between rights bearers and those who are targets of government interventions
• Distinction between civil/ political society (Chatterjee )
• Vast populations need to fend for themselves or opt out of the formal system (e.g. in peri urban areas)
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Denial of rights
• Sins of omission: Poor states may not prioritise the imperative to provide basic services for all due to lack of resources or political will
• Sins of commission: States/ powerful actors knowingly put poor people’s rights at risk
State as arbiter of rights and justice
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Water injustices in peri urban areas
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History of conflict and rights violations
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The global land and water grab
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South Africa : Dancing to two tunes? • South Africa was the first country to endorse the
constitutional right to water and endorse the rights of nature (reserve)
• 2001: Free Basic Water Policy
• Implementation rests with local authorities who interpret it according to the resources and capacity available
• Since 1997, controversial cut offs and hikes in water tariffs
• High profile judgements and struggles
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The case of BoliviaWater Wars of 2000/ 2001 The Right to Water for Life – 2006Right to mother earth Contradictions (economic policies that violate
basic rights and destroy natural resources; lack of awareness and capacity; communitarian notions of rights; mistrust of state)
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Rights talk/ Rights Practice
• Inadequate information about rights• Fuzziness around responsibilities/ duty
bearers• How define what is sufficient and what
determines the human right to water?• Resistance of powerful players – weak
commitment to rights – poor state/ citizen relations
• Elite biases/ indifference to poor
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Conclusions • Lots of unresolved issues around RTW• States continue to be very contradictory
towards poor and marginalised peoples • Despite contradictions in implementation, the
fight is worth it! • Use rights to hold powerful players to account/
justiciability • Rights are realised through struggle – more
and more people are demanding their rights to water and sanitation