Of What Use is a Deradicalized Human Right to Water?

Assessing states: Water service delivery and evolving state–society relations in Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa

“…There have also been several high profile and influential court cases where residents have pushed the government in terms of failure to realize its constitutional obligations—leading to some reformulation of related water policies across the country, as well as substantial critique in terms of the failure of South Africa to achieve on-the-ground improvements for marginalized residents (Bond, 2012). Critics have also frequently emphasized the mis-match and nonprogressive tendencies of neoliberal and commodification policies that are often pursued in tandem with HRW efforts—raising concerns about what this means about water justice and progressive realization of the HRW (Bond, 2012; Clark, 2017; McDonald and Ruiters, 2005). For instance, recent work has emphasized the ways that the idea of the human right to water, pursued through the free basic water policy, has resulted in fundamental tensions and difficulties for relatively impoverished households—particularly through Water Demand Management Devices which has become a primary instrument to achieve these goals, in ways that have resulted in cut-offs, political contestation, and undue burden for poorer households (Wilson and Pereira, 2012; Yates and Harris, 2018).…”

Indigenous women, multiple violences, and legal activism: Beyond the dichotomy of human rights as “law” and as “ideas for social movements”

“…Even if this is not the case, other social movement scholars argue that litigation and other forms of formal engagement with international human rights law requires expertise that may push movements to professionalize (Clark, 2017; Della Porta & Kriesi, 1999, p. 20; Kennedy, 2002, 2012; Levitt & Merry, 2009, p. 460; Merry, 2006; p. Merry et al., 2010, p. 101; Morgan, 2007, p. 274; Tsutsui et al., 2012; see also Meyer & Tarrow, 1998, p. 21). According to Tsutsui et al.…”

Comparing Experiences of Constitutional Reforms to Enshrine the Right to Water in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru: Opportunities and Limitations

“…Thus, the constitutionalization of the right to water in Uruguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia in the 2000s conversely had effects on the international level. Disputes over the recognition of the right to water in Latin America have been key in shaping its international recognition [1,3].…”

“…The steps taken in the international arena to establish a right to water have been driven by a broad coalition of water rights advocates, including civil society representatives and parties seeking to protect private interests around the privatization of water [1,3]. In 2002, the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights issued General Comment 15, which interpreted the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights as encompassing a right to water.…”

“…In the Latin American region, analyses of the constitutionalization of the right to water in Bolivia and Ecuador have shown the weakness of this right to transform the prevalent neoliberal models of water governance [1][2][3]. However, each country has its own legal institutions and mechanisms, and what is not transformative in one context might promote important changes in others.…”