URGENT: Please sign for Right to water to be included in the Sustainable Development Goals

European Federation of Public Service Unions

Dear friends, dear colleagues,

We have campaigned together to get the human right to water and sanitation implemented in European law. Although the European Commission did not legislate directly, our European Citizens’ Initiative “right2water” has been a huge success! The European Commission has recognised that water and sanitation are human rights and that water is a public good. It has withdrawn water services from the Concessions Directive and it has promised to dedicate more resources to water and sanitation in its development cooperation. Now we ask you again to act with us to ensure that the human right to water and sanitation is included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

The zero draft document which was released last week does not contain any reference to the human right to water and sanitation. We are happy to see that there is a separate goal for water and sanitation. This was one of our suggestions in the ECI “right2water” (see attached pdf). But a “voluntary” goal is not enough to ensure achievement of water and sanitation for all. Including the human right to water and sanitation makes a difference.

We think the goal “water and sanitation for all” can only be achieved by a binding commitment. We have seen the result of the (also voluntary) MDGs (Millennium development Goals) that claimed a success for water but was a complete failure for the sanitation goal. Moreover there is a clear difference between a Goal and a Human Right. If it is only a Goal, then governments can endlessly say: “we tried”, “we did our best”, but there is always an excuse if the goal is not achieved. A Human Right puts an obligation to governments, and these governments can be held accountable by people for fulfilling their obligation. A Human Right is empowering people to stand up for their Rights. A Goal does not empower people. That is why we ask you to call upon your government to include the human right to water and sanitation in the SDG: “Water and Sanitation for all by 2030”. Make your government show they are willing to make a true commitment.

The SDG process will determine the official international development agenda for the next 15 years. Given that the MDG process failed drastically in the area of sanitation and given that MDG targets on drinking water failed to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities, it is vital that the same mistakes are not repeated within the SDG process. The human right to water and sanitation obliges governments to prioritize the most vulnerable and to use all means available to realize this right for all. Furthermore, we feel that the HRTWS will be an important tool in our struggle to prevent the SDG agenda from being co-opted to promote greater corporate access to water resources and services.

Please join us in our call by:

1. Send a copy of the letter to the ambassador representing your country at the UN (available in French, Spanish and Portuguese, list of UN Ambassadors, all in attachment).
2. Sign your organization onto the attached letter by June 12^th at noon EST by sending an email to SDGrighttowater@gmail.com .
3. Tweet the need for #owg12 to explicitly name the right to water and sanitation in the #SDGs.

Thank you very much in advance!

Kind regards,

The Right2water team

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EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE UNIONS
40 Rue Joseph II, Box 5
1000 Brussels
http://www.epsu.org