HRC 57: SRI statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation

57th session of the Human Rights Council

Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation

Statement by Action Canada for Population and Development

Monday 16 September 2024

Thank you, President.

Action Canada makes this statement also on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative. 

We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s report on the water and economy nexus.  We appreciate his elaboration on the human rights violations caused by the direct and indirect privatization of water and perpetuated by public institutions including the World Bank. 

The financialization of this basic common good that is essential to all life on this planet, is a stark example of our current development paradigm that, in the words of the Special Rapporteur, is based on the suicidal principle of unlimited growth.  Instead of continuing on this destructive path, he challenges us all to rethink the ways in which water is valued, managed and utilized in order to strengthen communities, to repair our poisoned ecosystems and to better understand the connections between water, territory and our bodies. 

In his report on his visit to Canada, the Special Rapporteur rightly traces modern day violations of the right to water to its colonial roots, as evidenced by the lack of clean water and sanitation on First Nations and Inuit Reserves.  We urge Canada to heed his recommendations to address the right to water as a key element of the Truth and Reconciliation process. 

Thank you.