Water as a Human Right - Research Paper Example

Water as a Human Right Water has progressively become a scarce resource in many parts of the world owing to the global climatic changes associated with global warming. The scarcity of the water resource and the increased water pollution rates have seen entrepreneurs across the globe realize the business potential locked up in the water resource. Commercialization of water resources has in turn triggered numerous ethical questions surrounding water access, ownership and distribution (Shah 2010). Efforts by national and international organizations to find ways of addressing the global water crisis face significant setbacks including dilemmas on the water rights, the responsibility of managing water resources and ownership and whether water should be categorized as a tradable good (Chamberlain 2008). Environmental activists have applied different moral theories to support and detest activities and decisions surrounding the usage of water resources and other natural resources. The pluralistic teleological account on what make an action a virtue, justifies the virtues of environmental activism, stewardship, sustainability, and effective communion with nature (Sandler 2009). Environmental ethicists emphasize on incorporation human-independent ends in all ethical decisions surrounding the environment. According to Traer (2010), Access to water and air form fundamental human rights hence the need for ethical decision makers on the use of water and air to focus on providing access of clean water and air to all people. Following the growing problem in accessibility of safe water in different parts of the world, different international organizations such as the UN and the World Health Organizations have been on the forefront in advocating for the recognition of save water accessibility as a human right (Moench 2003). The concept of property rights and privatization has extended into the prevailing debate on water as a human right. Application of this concept on the water resource continues elicit several ethical issues based on environment virtues. This paper explores the moral reasoning and ethical principles surrounding the view of water as human right with the aim of developing a moral stance on the issue. Water as a Basic Condition for Survival Endorsement of water as a fundamental human right by the UN Committee on Human Rights has been explained through the moral view of water as a necessity to the survival of human kind (Bleisch 2006). Owing to the inseparable connection between life and water, environmental ethicists view accessibility of to clean drinking water as a fundamental moral right. Human rights revolve around protection of individuals from possible harm or threat to their life, a principle that provides adequate support for the endorsement of water as a fundamental human right. Analysis of the importance of water within the tenets of basic human rights reveals that every individual deserves protection from the risks associated with lack of clean drinking water. Inaccessibility to clean drinking water exposes human life to numerous life threatening risks than denial of any other human right can (Barraque 2004). Following the increased inaccessibility to clean drinking water in United States and other parts of the world, the World Health Organization declared inaccessibility to clean water as one of the great threats to wellbeing of the global society (Llamas, Martinez-Cortina & Mukherji 2007). This could be attributed to the life threatening risks associated with unsafe drinking water such as water borne diseases among other adverse effects on survival of people. Lack of access to safe drinking water in developing countries has led to loss of many lives due preventable diseases associated with unsafe drinking water. Unsafe water and poor sanitation continue to account for the highest number of disease diagnosed in most hospital in the developing countries where accessibility to safe drinking water remains far from becoming a reality (Chamberlain 2008). In accessibility to safe drinking water is not a problem in the developing countries but also a common problem to marginalized groups in developed countries and people living in slams. A close analysis of the human rights stipulated under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) reveal that such rights are vested on the moral importance of human life. The moral basis for these human rights serves to justify the need to recognize water as a human right due to its close connection to survival of human kind (Bleisch 2006). Although, it may be disputed that treatment of accessibility to water as human right may meet some of the traits associated with human rights such the dependence on government and institutions, accessibility of water can be termed as independent of any control other than natural control. Like other moral human rights, water can be treated as independent of any institution or organization. This view dismisses the concept water privatization and ownership of the resources by few individuals and organizations. Distribution of the water by organization has been partially attributed to the declining accessibility to safe water across the globe. From the political perspective, accessibility to safe water meets the criteria for human rights in which individual governments are obliged to guarantee such rights, failure to which results to the international community interventions (Moench 2003). The global community has intervened in many developing countries enable to provide their citizens with access to safe water to guarantee access the very essential commodity to survival of people. Although, the UDHR failed to recognized water in the declaration for right to good living standard through provision of essential needs such as food, shelter and clothing, water emerges to be central to the provision of such needs. Inaccessibility to safe drinking water among some populations and communities amounts to violation of other morally based human rights such as the right to health and decent life (Traer 2010). Individual health is determined by various factors among them accessibility to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. In this case, inaccessibility to water or limitation in accessing water exacerbates violation of other fundamental moral rights. Water as a necessity to the survival and decent standard of living buttresses the importance of its recognition as fundamental moral. Accessibility to safe water emerges a necessity the promotion of the moral importance of life through prevention of deaths from water-related diseases, dehydration and hunger (Bettini 2007). Water accessibility is directly connected to availability of people through farming and production commodities essential of preservation of human life. Water serves as a form of empowerment for the poor people due to its wide application in generating food stuffs and income. The Influence of Water Accessibility by People and Institutions The main purpose of the UDHR revolves around protection of people from harm by others, governmental structures and institutions. In line with this school of thought, water fits well as a human right because governments, institutions and individual limit free accessibility to water as an essential condition to their survival. Several human activities have been associated with the increased inaccessibility to water in different parts of world including privatization and commercialization of water resources (Shah 2010). Commercialization of water has limited accessibility to safe water especially among the poor and marginalized group. Association of water inaccessibility with commercialization of water resources revolves around the price tagged on accessing safe water that has emerged unaffordable to many people living in the slums and other deplorable living conditions (Bartol, Canney, Cunningham, Flaherty & McNamee 2011). Recognition of water as tradable good has contributed to the boom in bottled water business in many parts of the world. The act of privatizing water resources contributes to the increased number of people unable to access clean water across the globe. Privatization of the water resources in different countries has put the right to distribute and manage the natural resource in the hands of few people who determine who should access water and who should not. From an environmental ethics perspective, privatization of the water resource goes against the consequentialist moral theory which dictates that a morally right action should lead to the greatest benefits and the majority of people (Chamberlain 2008). Privatization of water limits the ability of majority of the people to access the commodity thereby leaving others to suffer at the expense of a self-centered minority group. In this case, recognition of water as a human right would not only guarantee all people regardless of their economic, political and social status accessibility to water but also eliminate practices such as privatization and commercialization of water resources. Recognition of water as a human right would compel governments and concerned authorities to put up measures capable of ensuring free accessibility of water without any form of discrimination as in the case of other human rights. Inclusion of water as a fundamental human right provides the best opportunity for dealing with the global water crisis. From the utilitarian perspective, universal declaration of water as a human right would provide the greatest happiness for the majority of people all over the world as opposed to the current situation in which only a small percentage of the global population is guaranteed access to safe drinking water. Like other freely accessible natural resources essential to the survival of people such as air, water requires a similar approach in order to eliminate potential limitation to their survival of people (Traer 2010). Since the accessibility of safe water to some people in the society is limited by individuals with vested self interests, recognition of water as human right presents a great opportunity to restoration of the free accessibility to water that existed before it commercialization. Management of the Water Resources and Ethical Implications The current management of water resources by private organization such as the bottled water companies continues to impact negatively on the accessibility of safe water to all people (Bartol, Canney, Cunningham, Flaherty & McNamee 2011). These organizations have made safe water to be only accessible to few people in the society compared to the majority who cannot afford the commodity. However, recognition of water as a human right presents a great opportunity for transformation in the management of water through obliging different governments and international organization intervene in order to guarantee the fundamental right. Management of water by the government and the pressure from the international institutions on human rights would ensure equal accessibility to safe water for people around the global. In this case, human right to provides a synergy to the promotion of other human rights such as human equality inclusiveness, and upholding of human dignity (Scanlon, Cassar & Nemes 2004). Indeed, there is no life without water, hence proper management and non-discriminative distribution of water would ensure sustainability of human dignity as an important moral stance. Declaration of water as a human right offers an opportunity to ensure equitable provision of water as an essential to human life. Therefore, inclusion of water as a fundamental moral right in the UDHR would avert all the moral historical injustices in the accessibility to the water resource in most parts of the world (Foundation for the Future 2010). This emerges as the only way to promote environmental ethics in the management which emphasizes on consideration of human end in all ethical decisions. The pluralistic teleological moral theory which emphasizes on the importance of human end in making ethical environmental decisions can be well supported by recognition of water as one of the fundamental moral rights. Moral Stance Recognition of water as a human right can be justified through various environmental ethical theories including the utilitarian theory, as well as the non-consequential theory. The move presents an effective way of attaining the greatest benefits for the majority of people across the globe as supported by environmental consequentialist. The right to water seeks to eliminate the problem of discriminative accessibility to safe water in most countries as a result of commercialization and privatization of the water resources. On the other hand, recognition of water as morally right or ethical can be justified by the fact that water and life are two inseparable entities. In essence denial of water can be interpreted as depriving people the right to life. Therefore, declaration of water as a human right can be justified through the moral importance vested in human life and the need to safeguard it all costs. The association of water and the survival of people fit into the ethical principle in support of human dignity and equality. The right to water presents an opportunity for the national and the global community to work towards the common goal of attaining the common good for all people (Foundation for the Future 2010). The view of water as a human right therefore, finds substantial support from the ethical principles and the moral school of thought. Conclusion Endorsement of water as a human right by the United Nations triggered a heated debate on the ethical issues surrounding extensively covered by different scholars. Recognition of water as a human right not only guarantees accessibility of safe water to all people across the world but also provides an avenue to eliminate existing injustices in the distribution of scarce resources. The right to water is in line with the different moral and ethical principles including the focus on maximizing benefits of an action or decision, the principle of human dignity and equality. Environmental ethicists assert that water should be treated in a similar manner to air due to its crucial role in the survival or sustainability of human life. Since the importance of water to life cannot be overemphasised, water should be treated like other human rights stipulated in UDHR with the aim of protecting human life and dignity. Therefore, the global community is morally justified to consider enactment of water as a fundamental human right. References Barraque, B 2004, ‘Water and ethics institutional issues’, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, Accessed May 17, 2012, < http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001363/136353e.pdf> Bartol, D, Canney, J, Cunningham, J, Flaherty, S & McNamee, L 2011, ‘Marketing of bottled water: Business and Ethical issues’, InSight: Rivier Academic Journal, Vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-8. Bettini, G 2007, Aqua-feminism water privatization and sustainable development: insight from a gender perspective, a case study on Buenos Aires’, Lund University, Accessed May 17, 2012, < http://www.lumes.lu.se/database/alumni/05.07/thesis/Giovanni_Bettini.pdf> Bleisch, B 2006, ‘The human right to water-normative foundation and ethical implications’, Ethics and Economics, Vol. 4, no. 2, pp.1-23. 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