Water resources

Excerpt from Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water By Maude Barlow, October 2007

• The Right to Water: An Idea Whose Time Has Come pages 164-175. (PDF)

CANADIAN RESOURCES

Background Information

• Ottawa turns off tap on right to water - March 22, 2008
• Council of Canadians 2008 General Water Presentation (PDF or Powerpoint) - Spring 2008
• Letter to Canada's federal Liberal Party by the Council of Canadians and the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) correcting the Party on statements made to the media about the consequences of Canada endorsing the right to water. April 8, 2008
• Video clip - ConnectedLife: Maude Barlow Maude Barlow talks about Canada's water crisis, bulk water exports and why we should be concerned. Chalk TV, November 2007
• A National Disgrace: Canada’s shameful position on the right to water October 2007
• It’s no wonder the Canadian government has refused to recognize water as a right, Maude Barlow, December 2006
• Five things you should know about Canada's position on the right to water February 2006
• Audio clip: Maude Barlow speaks during a demonstration inside the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City March 2006 (English and Spanish)

United Nations document

• UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Concluding Observations May 2006

Take Action

• World Water Day (March 22) Water Resolution Print and give to your town/city council.
• Letter to Prime Minister Harper (PDF) on International Women’s Day to call on the Canadian government to endorse the right to water March 2007
• Action Alert: Harper must recognize the right to water December 8, 2006
• Letter to Prime Minister Harper to support the right to water June 9, 2006
• Letter to Prime Minister Harper to support the right to water February 10, 2006
• Press Release: Oscar Olivera urges Canada to endorse the right to water June 12, 2006
• Press Release: World Water Day - Canadian groups mobilize for the right to water at home and abroad March, 2006

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES

Background Information

• Monitoring Implementation of the Right to Water: A Framework for Developing Indicators - By Virginia Roaf, Ashfaq Khalfan and Malcolm Langford, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, based on the proceedings of a workshop held in October 2004 organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World) and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE).

• This 2008 ACF (Action contre la faim/Action against hunger) positioning paper consolidates and clarifies ACF’s approach to water, sanitation, and hygiene through a comprehensive understanding of the UN's Human Right to Water (HRTW). This was undertaken to increase the impact and sustainability of ACF’s programs in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, and to use the HRTW as an advocacy tool in the service of saving lives by combating hunger and disease amongst vulnerable groups.

• AUDIO: Water in Africa, BBC News, Africa Have Your Say, March 26, 2008

• Lake Naivasha withering under the assault of international flower vendors, report by Food & Water Watch and The Council of Canadians, February 2008

• Global water movement grows in numbers and force October 2007

• Key Principles for an International Treaty on the Right to Water

• Water as a strategic international resource: The new water wars Chapter written by Anil Naidoo

• Maude Barlow's speech to the Water Rights Conference in Mexico City, March 2006

• The right to water is a woman’s right: The Global Water Crisis

• Critical Review of the "Green Cross" Proposal for a Global Framework Convention on the Right to Water - prepared by Sack Glodblatt Mitchell, Barristers and Solicitors, for the Blue Planet Project/Council of Canadians on behalf of the Friends of the Right to Water, April 3, 2005 Full report | Summary

• Red Vida Letter to Prime Minister Harper to support water as a human right and to protect it as a public trust, June 9, 2006

• Securing the right to water in Bolivia, By Maude Barlow, 2005

• People’s Health Movement joins the global campaign for a Right to Water Treaty, July 22, 2005

• Declaration of support for the right to water, Bolivia newspaper ad. December 14, 2006

United Nations documents

• Water is a human right: An international campaign to enshrine water as a human right at the United Nations

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Examines the Right to Water

• Preliminary Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council RE: Decision 2/104: Human Rights and Access to Water

• Substantive issues arising in the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Advance unedited version) General Comment No. 15 (2002) The right to water (Articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)

• Briefing Notes by Maude Barlow that explore why a UN Convention on the Right to Water is an idea whose time has come

Take action

• World Water Day (March 22) Water Resolution Print and give to your town/city council.