Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior permission from the copyright holder. Reproduction for sale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Copyright © World Water Council, 2006 World Water Council Espace Gaymard 2/4 place d’Arvieux 13002 Marseilles - France Phone: +33 (0)4 91 99 41 00 Fax: +33 (0)4 91 99 41 01 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.worldwatercouncil.org ISBN: 92-95017-11-0 This report can be cited as follows: Céline DUBREUIL The Right to Water: from concept to implementation World Water Council. 2006. Printed and bound in Mexico by Editores Buena Onda S.A. de C.V. Design and prepress production by 1 égal 2, Marseilles, France - www.1egal2.com The Right to Water: From concept to implementation Written by Céline DUBREUIL Under the guidance of Paul VAN HOFWEGEN Legal advice and research provided by: Financial support provided by: Foreword The right to water is an element that is indissociable from human dignity. Who, today, would dare say otherwise? For this reason, it has become and remains a moral duty to listen, to reflect on, to propose and to act so that the unfettered provision of drinking water and its corollary, sanitation, can gradually become a reality. In any case, it is an effort to which the World Water Council wished to contribute by facilitating the work of a group of both qualified and impassioned individuals. It was, first, essential to identify what was being discussed. Truly and concretely, what is this right, in its individual form and in its collective form? Are we evoking the right of the people or that of the States? Then, it was necessary to specify various approaches to the way in which the right to water can be implemented, and in a practical, accessible and sustainable way.