Towards Rights-Duties Congruence: Extraterritorial Application of the Human Right to Water in the African Human Rights System

Abstract

Since 85 per cent of African freshwater comes from international rivers, the realisation of the newly emerging human right to water depends on the volume and quality of shared water resources. Each continental African State shares a river with at least one other State. Thus, a State has the capacity to hamper the realisation of the right in other co-riparian States by reducing the volume or polluting the shared river unless they are legally prevented from jeopardising the right abroad. The right would prove an empty promise for the right holders unless they are given legal avenues to hold third States accountable for their (in)actions that produce extraterritorial consequences. This article examines the extraterritorial reach of States' human rights duties in the African human rights system in the light of the regional case law and comparative jurisprudence.

Transboundary Hydropower Projects Seen Through the Lens of Three International Legal Regimes – Foreign Investment, Environmental Protection and Human Rights

“…If so, who and where might a right be upheld? No conclusive statement or case law has decided this point, although it has been discussed in scholarly writings (Bulto, 2011;McCaffrey, 2005).…”

The Routledge Handbook on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations

“…Importantly, how extraterritorial conduct or omissions associated with climate change can result in displacement of children in Africa merits scrutiny. Generally, extraterritorial obligations (ETOs) are a burgeoning topic in international human rights law (Vandenhole 2020;Bulto 2011). Hence, the extraterritorial link of climate change with displacement of children as both a challenge and driver of possible measures to address it in Africa is not as clear.…”