Human Right to Water: Significance, Legal Status and Implications for Water Allocation

Neuausgabe 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84946-283-9
Verlag: BLOOMSBURY

Buch, Englisch, 376 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 728 g

The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognised the human right to water in 2010. This formal recognition has put the issue high on the international agenda, but by itself leaves many questions unanswered. This book addresses this gap and clarifies the legal status and meaning of the right to water through a detailed analysis of its legal foundations, legal nature, normative content and corresponding State obligations.

The human right to water has wide-ranging implications for the distribution of water. Examining these implications requires putting the right to water into the broader context of different water uses and analysing the linkages and competition with other human rights that depend on water for their realisation. Water allocation is a highly political issue reflecting societal power relations, with current priorities often benefitting the well-off and powerful. Human rights, in contrast, require prioritising the most basic needs of all people. The human right to water has the potential to address these underlying structural causes of the lack of access to water rooted in inequalities and poverty by empowering people to hold the State accountable to live up to ist human rights obligations and to demand that their basic needs are met with priority.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Winkler, Inga T.

Winkler, Inga

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationales Verwaltungs-, Umwelt- und Gesundheitsrecht
• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationale Menschen- und Minderheitenrechte, Kinderrechte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Introduction I. Lack of Access to WaterII. The Question of Prioritisation III. The Emergence of the Human Right to Water IV. Scope and Outline of the Book 2 Background: Water Availability and Competing Demands I. Water Availability and Quality II. Competing Water Demands A Challenge for Allocation III. Conclusion: A Question of Prioritisation 3 Legal Foundations of the Human Right to Water I. Human Rights Treaties II. Customary International Law III. General Principles IV. Conclusion 4 Legal Characteristics of the Human Right to Water I. Legal Nature of the Right to Water II. Obligations Arising from the Right to Water III. Normative Content of the Right to Water IV. Conclusion 5 Human Rights Implications for Water Allocation I. Introductory Remarks II. Framework for Prioritisation III. Different Water Uses and Their Link to Human Rights IV. Conclusion: Priorities in Water Allocation 6 Benefits of Understanding Water as a Human Right I. General Benefits of the Human Rights Framework II. Possibility of Judicial Enforcement III. Conclusion 7 Conclusion and Outlook Bibliography United Nations Documents Conference Reports General Assembly Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights Human Rights Council Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Human Rights Committee Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee on the Rights of the Child Other Bodies Miscellaneous Documents

Über Autor(innen)

Winkler, Inga
Inga T Winkler is a Legal Adviser to the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation based at the German Institute for Human Rights. She is also a lecturer at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany.

Inga T Winkler is a Legal Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation based at the German Institute for Human Rights. She is also a lecturer at the University of Dusseldorf, Germany.