August 2010
Number 3

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1) UN resolution recognizes right to water and sanitation

(c) Gorsboth / EWN

The General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a historic resolution on July 28 recognizing “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life.” The resolution received 122 votes in favour and zero votes against with abstentions from 41 countries. 

Besides recognizing the right to water and sanitation the resolution calls upon States and international organizations to “provide financial resources, capacity-building and technology transfer, through international assistance and cooperation, in particular to developing countries, in order to scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.”

Although the resolution is not legally binding, it is a crucial milestone in the recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation. The adoption of the resolution without a single "no" vote "is an important indication of an emerging international consensus on the human right to water for consumption, personal hygiene and sanitation," said David Weaver from Church World Service, an EWN participant. 

122 countries including China, Russia, Germany, France, Spain and Brazil supported the resolution. The list of those who abstained includes the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as a number of delegations from Europe and other regions. 

Several of the abstaining states, including the United States, Canada and Australia, highlighted that despite reservations about the process and content of the resolution they remained committed to supporting the Human Rights Council’s Independent Expert’s efforts to clarify the content of human rights obligations relating to safe water and sanitation. 

Find out more: 

2) Coca Cola to be held liable for damages in Plachimada

The state government of Kerala, India, has decided to move forward with the formation of a tribunal that will hear and award compensation claims against the Coca-Cola Company, holding it responsible for causing pollution and water depletion in Plachimada, a village in the state of Kerala in the South of India.

The Kerala state cabinet's decision is based on the report and recommendations of the High Power Committee which had been established by the state government. The Committee released a report on 22 March 2010 recommending that Coca-Cola be held liable for an amount equivalent to some $48 million US Dollars for alleged damages to people, environment and agriculture resulting from the company's bottling operations.

The tribunal that is to be formed now will consider compensation claims against the Coca Cola company relating to "water and air pollution, loss of agricultural crops and animals, diseases affecting human beings in the surrounding area due to the excess [with]drawal and pollution of groundwater and surface water by the Company," which had been acknowledged in the High Power Committee’s report. The tribunal will also consider claims related to "loss of wages and loss of educational opportunities."

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages insists that the “the committee in Kerala was appointed on the unproven assumption that damage was caused.” The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada has remained shut down since March 2004 as a result of the community-led campaign challenging Coca-Cola for abusing their village’s water resources.

More information:

3) Queues and prayers for water and sanitation

(c) Peter Williams / WCC

While Guinness World Records still needs to officially verify the results, the organizers of the World’s Longest Toilet Queue are already celebrating a new World Record: they just confirmed that a total of over 80,000 queuers in 80 countries had queued up between 20 and 22 March making a stand for sanitation and water.

The goal of the event was to demand real change and commitment from the world’s politicians to solve the global sanitation crisis. The lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation is the main reason why many children die every day from preventable water-related illnesses such as diarrhea, typhoid, cholera and dysentery.

In solidarity with the 2.5 billion people worldwide who do not have access to clean water and basic sanitation, staff from the different church-related and other organizations based at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, including the World Council of Churches (WCC), also stood in line in front of a symbolic “toilet door” on 22 March, World Water Day.

“The water crisis is a symptom of our unjust, our polluted relations with one another and the rest of creation”, said Ms. Maike Gorsboth, coordinator of the Ecumenical Water Network at the WCC, in a prayer service held for the occasion. “Water being the source of life makes it much more than ‘just’ a sacramental symbol or a symbol of liberation. It also makes it a means of liberation.” World Water Day 2010 had been dedicated to the theme of water quality.

More information:

4) Good practices submitted by EWN and ACT Alliance

Promoting accountable governance of community water services, making participation count, strengthening community and civil society campaigning for the right to water... On these and other related themes the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) and ACT Alliance have made a joint submission of good water and sanitation practices to the United Nation’s Independent Expert on human rights obligations and water and sanitation in Geneva.

The practices had been sent in by members and local partners of the EWN and the ACT Alliance who aim at advancing the realization of human rights as they relate to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The UN Independent Expert, Ms Catarina de Albuquerque, who has been given a mandate by the UN Human Rights Council to study the links between human rights obligations and access to water and sanitation, had called to governments, civil society, and the private sector to contribute examples of “good practices”.

More information:

5) Reformed churches urged to support water as a human right

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) has called on its 230 member churches to support the “Ecumenical Declaration on Water as a Human Right and Public Good.” This is one of the final recommendations that were adopted at the close of the Uniting General Council (UGC) held in Grand Rapids, U.S.A., from June 16 to 26, 2010.

The Swiss churches, one of the originators of the Ecumenical Declaration, and other participants and partners of the Ecumenical Water Network from Nigeria, India, and Jamaica, worked together to highlight water in Grand Rapids. In different workshops, delegates learned about people’s struggles for water around the world, and told of their own experiences. "Everybody from the global North to the global South, India to Africa, Australia to the United States and to Europe, all of them have water concerns," commented Chukwuemeka Oji from Preach Water Nigeria.

A view shared by the delegates. “We pray for the earth, the water and the air as they suffer from human exploitation of natural resources, and for all those who suffer from the devastating effects of climate change”, reads a paragraph in the final Message Statement of the UGC. The assembled delegates also supported the Public Issues Committee’s recommendation to the member churches to adopt the Ecumenical Declaration on Water as a Human Right and a Public Good. The declaration had originally been drafted and signed jointly by the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches of Brazil and Switzerland in 2005.

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is a new body representing more than 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide. It was formed at the Uniting General Council as a result of the merging of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).

More information:

6) 1.4 million in Italy call for referendum on water privatisation law

A campaign demanding a referendum against a recent law privatising water services in Italy has ended with over 1.4 million signatures having been handed over to the Supreme Court in Rome. The campaign was organised by the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua, a network of national associations and local committees which includes also the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy.

A key provision of the 2009 law that is being challenged by the Forum is that as of 2012 water supplies must be managed exclusively by private companies or by mixed public-private enterprises where the private investor holds at least 40 per cent.

The signatures now have to be validated by the court and the referendum proposal needs to be approved before voting can take place. The campaigners hope the referendum will then be called in spring 2011.

More information:

7) Water and sanitation high on the global agenda?

Finance and Water Sector Ministers from 18 countries, representatives of donors, UN agencies and civil society met in Washington on April 28, 2010 for the First Annual High Level Meeting (HLM) of Sanitation and Water for All. The meeting aimed to shape sector dialogue and to stimulate aid targeting, donor coordination, and on-the-ground action to ensure access to sanitation and safe drinking water for the billions who have none.

The High Level Meeting participants generally called for more synergies and commitment. Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, South Africa and Chair of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) urged the participants to “stop talking and start acting. We have the capacity and commitment to turn this situation around.”

The meeting generated some concrete commitments from a number of developing countries to spend more – Bangladesh, for example, committed an extra $200 million over the next 5 years. Ghana, Liberia and Ethiopia committed to raising domestic budgets to spend 0.5% of their GNI (Gross National Income) on sanitation. At the same time, the 16 participating ministers of sanitation and water from Africa and Asia called on donors to increase the percentage of sector aid allocations to basic services from the current 16% to 27% and that of sector aid going to low-income countries from 42% to 50%. 

Civil society reacted with mixed feelings to the results of the meeting. End Water Poverty welcomed the new “Sanitation and Water for All” partnership and the commitments made at the meeting, but also called for increased donor commitment. Campaign coordinator Steve Cockburn further commented that he missed “the deadlines and the dollar signs that we need to really drive progress.” Yet, he added that there was “an explicit promise to develop these following the meeting, so we must make sure this happens.”

More information:

8) New resources

  • Caring for creation, climate change and water
    Ecumenical Review of the World Council of Churches
    The most recent edition of the Ecumenical Review of the World Council of Churches brings together articles about "Churches caring for creation and climate change". The question whether water is “Holy and wholesome?” is explored jointly by Dr John Gibaut, Director of Faith and Order at the WCC and Ms. Maike Gorsboth, EWN Coordinator. An article on “Water and spirit: theology in the time of cholera” is a contribution by the late South African theologian Steve de Gruchy to whom the edition is dedicated. The other texts also include reflections by Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the WCC, about “The ecumenical movement as a movement that cares for creation” and more. List of all articles

  • Joining the dots: why better water, sanitation and hygiene are necessary for progress on maternal, newborn and child health
    Tearfund
    This paper highlights key links between improved WASH (access to clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene education) and maternal, newborn and child health. It also outlines why a combined approach to meeting the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) is needed to enhance progress. Download report here.

  • Climate change adaptation and water
    Tearfund
    Tearfund, a participant of the Ecumenical Water Network, has produced a new resource addressing “How to integrate climate change adaptation into national-level policy and planning in the water sector: A practical guide for developing country governments”. Tearfund argues the case for the water sector being a priority for adaptation support and funding and for climate change being integrated in water policy frameworks. The report builds on these two recommendations and provides guidance for their implementation in practice. Download report here.

  • The Story of Bottled Water
    The Story of Bottled Water tells the story of manufactured demand - how you get people to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when they can get it as a public service from a tap. It also makes links between the wasteful practices of consumer society and the real impact on communities around the world, particularly in the global South, when dealing with the accumulated waste and pollution generated by these practices. Watch the video here.

  • Insecurity and indignity. Women’s experiences in the slums of Nairobi
    Amnesty International
    The majority of Nairobi’s residents live in informal settlements and slums, in inadequate housing with little access to clean water, sanitation, health care, schools and other essential public services. Women and girls living in these informal settlements are particularly affected by lack of adequate access to sanitation facilities for toilets and bathing. This situation makes women even more vulnerable to rape and other forms of gender-based violence. This report shows that for many women living in informal settlements, poverty is both a consequence and a cause of violence. Download report (pdf)

  • GLAAS 2010 report
    World Health Organization (WHO)
    The Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) is a UN-Water initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of UN-Water GLAAS is to provide policy makers at all levels with a reliable, easily accessible, comprehensive and global analysis of the evidence on which to base informed decisions on sanitation and drinking-water. The findings from the UN-Water GLAAS report have been presented at the first annual High-Level Meeting of Sanitation and Water for All. More information: www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/glaas

9) Upcoming events

  • “Creation flourishing”: Time for Creation & 10/10/10 Campaign
    1 September to 10 October 2010

    Every year, from 1 September - the first day of the Orthodox Church year - to 4 October - the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi in the Catholic tradition - churches are called to become involved in the “Time for Creation” for the protection of God’s creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles. This year, churches are encouraged to focus on the theme of biodiversity, 2010 being the UN Year of Biodiversity, and on Africa.

    Exceptionally in 2010, Time for Creation will be prolonged up to 10 October, to join the 10/10/10 campaign. You can help make 10/10/10 the biggest day of carbon cutting that the world has ever seen by doing something that will help deal with global warming in your city or community! Find out more at www.350.org.

    Materials for Time for Creation will be made available in different languages at the website of the World Council of Churches and the European Christian Environmental  Network (ECEN). Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) also offer sermon notes, prayers, and other materials for churches to observe “Creation flourishing - A time for celebration and care” at: www.ctbi.org.uk/creationtime.

  • World Water Week
    5-11 September 2010,  Stockholm, Sweden

    The World Water Week in Stockholm, which will mark the 20th Anniversary of the event, is a week-long global water conference held each year in Stockholm, Sweden. Organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), it brings together experts, practitioners, decision-makers and leaders from around the globe. More information: www.worldwaterweek.org

This newsletter has been sent to you by the Secretariat of the Ecumenical Water Network. If you do not wish to receive the newsletter any more, just send a short message to water@wcc-coe.org.

If you would like to stay informed about the EWN, just stay on our list. The EWN Newsletter will reach you about four times a year with information on the EWN itself, new developments concerning the human right to water, international water politics, and local water initiatives. We might also provide additional information by e-mail on special occasions.

The Ecumenical Water Network is a network of churches and church-related organizations that promotes the preservation, responsible management and equitable distribution of water for all, based on the understanding that water is a gift of God and a fundamental human right. The Secretariat of the Ecumenical Water Network is located at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

You can contact us via e-mail at: water@wcc-coe.org

For previous newsletters and to learn more about the EWN visit our website at http://water.oikoumene.org

 

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