Is Water a Human Right - Essay Example

Is Water a Human Right? Author’s Name Grade course Institution Tutor Date Introduction Human rights are those fundamental rights which are inalienable and which one is inherently entitled by the simple fact of being a human being. Human rights are applicable everywhere and are the same for each and every person. Accessing drinking water that is safe is central to ensuring that people live a life of dignity and thus promote human rights. In recent past, there have been great changes in the world with emergence of globalization. There has emerged economic powers, growth in populations, urbanization of population and political instability in certain areas (Zorrilla et. al 2008, p. 12). The developments have great effects on the availability of water resources. There is therefore need to fully comprehend the issues of ethics with respect to water security since this determines security of the human populations. There is therefore need to ensure that the relevant policies are put in place to ensure that the water problem is resolved globally. The Utilitarianism and Morality Utilitarianism refers to a theory in normative ethics. The central argument in utilitarianism is that a course of action is only proper where it lead to maximization of utility. Utility is the maximizing of happiness and reduction of suffering. The begin point of utilitarianism were the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The name utilitarianism comes from the test question that was developed by Bentham. The basic question was, 'what is the use of it?' The ethical system by Jeremy Bentham was developed around the idea of pleasure. Bentham based his system on ancient hedonism whereby physical pleasure was pursued while physical pain was avoided (Zorrilla et. al 2008, p. 12). Bentham argued that acts which should be referred to as the most moral are the ones which result in maximum pleasure and minimum pain. The argument by Jeremy Bentham has been at times referred to as the 'utilitarian calculus'. According to Jeremy Bentham, an act would be considered to be moral where the act results in the greatest amount of pleasure and the least amount of pain. The philosophy by Jeremy Bentham was modified by John Stuart Mill who also made some developments to it which took it away from the hedonistic foundation of Jeremy Bentham. While Mill made use of the same utilitarian calculus, he instead focused on maximizing general happiness. This was achieved by calculating good for the highest number of people (Brandt 1992, pp. 1-15). The difference between the two philosophers lies with the fact that Bentham made quantitative use of the utilitarian sense as opposed to Mill who used it in a qualitative sense. Therefore, Mill was of the view that there were pleasures whose quality was higher than that of others. Despite the great acceptance of utilitarianism due to its seemingly easy application and the appearance of sensibility, it was initially considered very radical. Utilitarianism attempted to come up with a moral system that was different from the biblical morality and divine revelation. The key focus for utilitarianism was results and not the rules (Yang & Zehnde 2007 et. al pp. 585-605). Therefore, through utilitarianism, people could still lead morally upright lives even without following the teaching of the Bible. The modern world faces new and unique problems with respect to resources in general and water in particular. Some of the factors which are compounding the problem of water include growth in populations, changes in climate and closing basins. It is therefore important that choices are made which shall ensure that water security is secured for a population that is growing and becoming increasingly urbanized. There is therefore need to ensure that every person involved in one way or the other with provision of water meets some minimum requirements with regard to ensuring that there is water security (Yang & Zehnder, 2008, p. 19). There is still no proper definition of water security. There are instances where water security is tied to ensuring that there is access to water and in this respect water security would be taken in the light of having proper infrastructure which can be used to store water (Latornell & Stefanovic 2011, pp. 1-20). At times water security related to aspects of governance aspects of water access rather than securing of water resources in the physical sense. Therefore, governments have a moral obligation to provide access water to all people. Human security is includes freedom from want. Therefore, humans cannot be considered to have freedom from want for as long as they are unable to access safe and sufficient water to meet all their needs, domestic or otherwise (WEF, pp. 23-40). It is therefore evident that based on utilitarianism, governments as well as other players in the water sector ought to manage water resources in ways which ensure that there is maximum benefits for all. This is in contrast with the libertarian approach. This approach is the ethical view that agents themselves do have moral rights to acquire property (Wolf 2012, pp. 20-60). Taken loosely, libertarianism would be interpreted as allowing an individual all the freedom to acquire property as long as in exercising his freedom he or she does not interfere with another person's freedom. There are some relationships between the views of libertarians and those of the utilitarian inclination. This philosophy has been used in the argument for solving the problem of the tragedy of the commons. Proponents of this philosophy argue that by placing soil and water resources in the hands of private citizens, you could avert the situation where every person seeks to attain as much benefit as possible from the property held in common at the expense of everyone else and thus ending up disadvantaging everyone depending on the resources held in common. However, by adopting utilitarian approach, measures would be put in place to ensure that individual rights are respected and safeguarded (WEF, pp. 23-40). If the greatest utility would be derived by having the property held in common then measures would have to be put in place to ensure that such property does not unjustly benefit a few at the expense of the majority or benefit the majority at the expense of a minority. Therefore, everyone should have a fair shot at the acquisition and utilization of resources. The Moral Right of Water as a Universal Right There has been contention as to whether water is a human right. The debate was brought to a close when the United Nations passed a resolution in 2010 which recognized water and sanitation as human rights. The decision was premised on the fact that water and sanitation are indispensable if human are to enjoy to the full the right to life, health and dignity. Still in the year 2010, a resolution was passed by the Human Rights Council affirming that the right to water was already recognized under international law. It is therefore upon the respective governments to ensure that their citizenry has access to adequate and clean water to meet their daily needs. Measures should be put in place to ensure that water is recognized in municipal legislations as basic right (Yang & Zehnder, 2008, p. 19). This would ensure that state agencies would be compelled to provide adequate and safe water failure to which parties concerned would have recourse to local courts or even international tribunals (Wojtkowski 2008, pp 580-81). All people require a certain amount of water which is safe for the purposes of personal hygiene, consumption as well as other uses. Water is important when it comes to hygiene as it provides means to dispose of human waste. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights does require State parties to it to entrench the rights to water within the municipal legislation law and regulation which shall ensure that essential human right to water is recognized. The recognition of the right to water in municipal legislation is a very important step in ensuring that individuals can demand that their right to water is protected. This leads to political, administrative and judicial means through which the individual's rights are to be protected. There are governments which have made the process of reviewing the national legislation and policies to be participatory. This would result in a more sound policy and legal framework (Yang & Zehnde 2007, pp. 585-605). The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights does require State parties to file response with regard to their obligations with respect to the human rights obligations to water and sanitation. Through the responses obtained, it becomes evident what policies have been put in place in ensuring that such States meet their obligations in ensuring the realization of the right to water. Some countries have even ensured that the right to water is enshrined in the constitutions (World Economic Forum 2008, p.19). Attainment of the right to water cannot be divorced from the issue of sustainable development. Governments as well as other stakeholders ought to develop solutions which do not jeopardize the right to water while at the same time ensuring that development progresses well especially with the growing number in terms of populations. There is an urgent need to embrace the idea of green growth. There should be measure in place to ensure that there can be ways through which evaluation is carried out to reveal whether the steps being taken by the authorities are bearing fruit or making the situation even worse (Wojtkowski 2008, pp 580-81). There should be ways and means of striking a balance between the immediate needs of populations and the long terms needs of the ecosystems. There is overwhelming evidence that degradation of the ecosystem negatively affects the availability of clean water which in turn is a threat to human life and the very existence of humanity. Scarcity of resources such as water has been a known cause for social disturbances in different parts of the world. This calls for concerted efforts in ensuring that research is carried out into the needs of the ecosystem since there is no concrete data which is available on the subject. Water infrastructure and services ought to be improved to ensure that there is never unwarranted shortage of water at any given moment. The policy pronouncements by the various authorities should be geared towards ensuring that water provision is efficient. Governments could also come up with taxation models which would aid in environmental conservation and this in turn translates into water security in the future. It is also worth putting in place subsidies to shield the poorest people from the cost of accessing water (Lopez-Gunn et. Al 2012, p. 54). Authorities should establish the means that would be employed to ensure that the greatest good is provided to the greatest number and this would call wide consultation, research and formulation of sound policies (Lopez-Gunn et. al 2012, p. 54). Care should be taken in deciding whether privatization of water services should be undertaken. Privatization has proved a failure with respect to serving the poor and this has compromised on water being a basic human right. Private agencies are usually driven by the amount of returns to be obtained rather than ensuring access of water by citizens. References Brandt, R.B, 1992, Morality, utilitarianism and right, Cambridge University Press. Latornell, A.D, & Stefanovic, I.L, 2011, Water Ethics: Value Jugements in Environmental Policy, Conservation Symposium 2011 Ingrid Leman Stefanovic. Lopez-Gunn, E, De Stefano, L & Ramon Lllamas, M.R, 2012, The role of ethics in water and food security: balancing utilitarian and intangible values. Cambridge University Press. Wojtkowski, P 2008, Letters ‘ensuring food security’. Science vol.320, no.5863, pp 580–581. Wolf, A. T. 2012, Spiritual understandings of conflict and transformation and their contribution to water dialogue. Water Policy. Special Issue on the Role of Ethics in the Globalisation of Water and Food. World Economic Forum (WEF) 2008, Managing our future water needs for agriculture, industry, human health and the environment. Discussion Document for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. WEF, Geneva. Yang, H. & Zehnder, A. J. B 2008, Globalization of water resources through virtual water trade. Manuscript presented at the Sixth Biennial Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, Zaragoza, Spain, 19 pp. (unpublished). Yang, H., Wang, L. & Zehnder, A. J. B 2007, Water scarcity and food trade in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. Food Policy Vol.32, pp 585–605. Zorrilla, P., Carmona, G., De la Hera, Á., Varela-Ortega, C., Martínez-Santos, P., Bromley, J. & Jorgen Henriksen, J. H 2010, Evaluation of Bayesian networks in participatory water resources management, Upper Guadiana Basin, Spain. Ecology and Society vol.15, no.3, pp 12. Read More