Water and Human Rights
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THE CARITAS IN VERITATE FOUNDATION WORKING PAPERS “The City of God in the Palace of Nations” Water and Human Rights A Catholic Perspective on the Human Right to Water THE CARITAS IN VERITATE FOUNDATION WORKING PAPERS “The City of God in the Palace of Nations” Water and Human Rights A Catholic Perspective on the Human Right to Water With a selection of texts from the Church’s engagement on Water www.fciv.org Edited by Alice de La Rochefoucauld and Dr. Carlo M. Marenghi Published by FCIV 16 chemin du Vengeron, CH-1292 Chambésy © The Caritas in Veritate Foundation ISBN: 978-2-8399-2189-3 EDITORIAL Dr. Carlo M. Marenghi, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Webster University, Geneva 5 Attaché, Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations Office in Geneva SECTION ONE: Water and Human Rights – A Catholic Perspective on 11 the Human Right to Water Water and Human Rights: Considerations and Challenges under International Law Vincenzo Buonomo, Professor of International Law and Organizations, 13 Director of the Department of Studies on International Community, Pontifical Lateran University Common Good and Common Wealth: Trade and Water 35 Rose Osinde Alabaster, Programme Director, Waterlex Sharing Water – Water as a Path towards Peace Alice de La Rochefoucauld, Director of the Caritas in Veritate Foundation 57 Dr Albert Florensa & Dr. Miquel Gassiot I Matas, Professor Emeritus, Universitat Ramon Llull Water and Migration: How far would you go for Water? Eva Mach, Programme Officer, Environment and Climate Change (MECC) 79 Division, International Organization for Migration The Role of Faith-Based Organizations and Examples of Good Practices 91 1. Water, the Source of Life in the Amazonia - The Life of Indigenous People and Farming Communities in the Amazonia 93 Eje De Derechos Humanos De La Red Eclesial Panamazonica (REPAM) 2. Burkina Faso - Potable Water for a Better Life Organisation Catholique pour le Développement et la Solidarité 115 - CARITAS Burkina 3. Empowering Communities - Watering Development: the Paradox of Rural Communities’ Access to Water in Malawi 121 The Catholic Development Commission in Malawi 4. The Promotion of the Right to Clean Water through the National Hydraulic Commission 137 CARITAS Senegal Annex - Timeline of United NationsTreaties, Conferences and Agreements on Water 143 SECTION TWO: Church Texts on Water 161 Introduction to the Church Texts Gabriele Maria Verga & Paolo Maria Corbetta, Research Assistants to the 163 Caritas in Veritate Foundation Catechism of the Catholic Church (Selected Excerpt) 167 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Selected Excerpts) 168 Gaudium et Spes – Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World 172 Council Vatican II, 7 December 1965 (Selected Excerpts) Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus 174 Pope John Paul II, 1 May 1991 (Selected Excerpts) Message on the Occasion of the World Food Day 175 Pope John Paul II, 13 October 2002 Message on the Occasion of the Brazil’s Lenten “Campaign of Fraternity 2004” 177 Pope John Paul II, 19 January 2004 (Selected Excerpt) Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace 178 Pope John Paul II, 1 January 2005 (Selected Excerpt) Message of Pope Benedict XVI to the Director-General of FAO on the Occasion of the Celebration of World Water Day 2007 179 Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, 22 March 2007 Message to Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York at the International Expo of Saragossa 181 Pope Benedict XVI, 10 July 2008 (Selected Excerpts) Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 182 Pope Benedict XVI, 29 June 2009 (Selected Excerpts) Statement at the 15th Session of Human Rights Council of the United Nations on Access to, and Delivery of, Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Services Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the 184 United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, 16 September 2010 (Selected Excerpts) Statement at the 3rd Session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals: “Water and Sanitation” 185 Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, 24 May 2013 Statement at the 47th Session of the Commission on Population and Development of the United Nations Economic and Social Council 188 Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, 10 April 2014 Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ 190 Pope Francis, 24 May 2015 (Selected Excerpts) Address to the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations 194 Pope Francis, 25 September 2015 (Selected Excerpt) Address to the World Water Week in Stockholm on “Water and Faiths: Faith-based Organizations Contributing to the Water SDGs” 196 Cardinal Peter K. A. Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 29 August 2016 Statement at the 33rd Session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations - Interactive Dialogue on the Human Right to Water Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the 199 United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, 16 September 2016 Statement at the Open Debate on Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Water, Peace and Security 202 Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, 22 November 2016 Address to the Conference on the Human Right to Water – Pontifical Academy of Sciences 205 Pope Francis, 23 February 2017 “International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development” First Dialogue to Discuss Improving the Integration and Coordination of the Work of the United Nations on the Water-Related Goals and Targets under its Sustainable 207 Development Pillar Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, 22 March 2017 Statement at the High-Level Panel on Water at the Vatican City Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, 209 23 May 2017 EDITORIAL DR. CARLO M. MARENGHI, PH.D. Adjunct Professor, Webster University Geneva Attaché, Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations Office in Geneva ur planet is an enclosed system when it comes to entrance and exit of matter in significant amounts. Water and oxygen are existing in enormous quantities, but both substances are limited to the amounts Othat have been present on Earth since the Quaternary Period. However, the strength of life is extraordinary and unforeseeable, and when facing shortage or even lack of certain essential substances, surprising evolutionary mechanisms are set in motion in order to ensure its own continuity. Thales from Miletus (636 –546 B.C.), a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher - who is often considered the first philosopher and the father of Western philosophy - stated that “Hydor (water) is the beginning of everything”. As a matter of fact, our life begins in water, which, by its very nature, is a source of life. People have always had to deal with the need of having enough water for their uses and subsequently to manage appropriately the produced wastewater. The availability of high quality water, as well as safe management of the produced wastewater, have been a prerequisite for urban development in every part of the world. This intuition of the first pre-Socratic philosopher has been confirmed by modern science which considers water and its cycle the basis for life on our planet and recognizes it as what differentiates Earth from other planets in our system. It has to be agreed that, since air and water are essential to life, they should be considered common goods of nature – goods that belong to all humanity and all living beings. There is no doubt that air is for everyone and belongs to everyone. Therefore, given its diffusity, it has occurred to no one to use air distribution as an instrument of power. Water is at the center of economic and social development: it is vital in order to maintain health, grow food, generate energy and create jobs while sustaining the natural environment. However, a fair and equitable global water management is far from being achieved. The most severe outcome of water scarcity is drought. Drought impacts lives and livelihoods through many different dimensions, including food insecurity and land degradation. In the case of prolonged drought coupled with degraded agricultural land, people might move to nearby fertile rural 6 Water and Human Rights areas or to urban areas in order to access basic services, including water supplies. As recalled in the subsequent article on “Water and Migration”, drought-related migration has long been a hidden category of migration due to the challenges of data collection. Although no global estimates are available on the number of people moving solely because of water scarcity and/or drought, context-specific data is becoming available in a diverse range of countries (e.g. Angola, China, Iran, Uganda) with water insecurity being identified as a key push factor to migrate. The vital necessity of water to humanity can also be translated in its strategic importance for the establishment and maintenance of peace in the world. As elaborated in the article “Water as a Path towards Peace”, water is a dimension of what is referred to today as resource security. As early as 2450 to 2400 BC, surface water was diverted by Urlama, King of Lagash, and his son, to deprive the neighboring land of Umma and its city of Girsu of water1 . This border region, also known as Gu’edena (edge