TFTT Report
Pope Francis is Correct: Water is a Universal Human Right
In laying out his vision on climate change, Pope Francis said something we very much agree with: access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights.
For this very reason communities across the United States partner with private companies to ensure drinking water is protected and safely delivered. Today, private water companies serve over 73 million Americans.
In his Encyclical Letter, Pope Francis writes
Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market.
What is unfortunate are the steps activists take to manipulate the intent of the Pope’s words to justify a radical point of view. Press Release:
It also echoes our call for the exclusion of water and sanitation services from private sector participation and public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the delivery of the development agenda. (NGO Mining Working Group and the Blue Planet Project of the Council of Canadians)
The UN’s Human Rights Council disagrees and is explicit that the private sector can have a role in providing water services without infringing on human rights:
Human rights do not require a particular model of service provision. They do not exclude private provision (including privatization). Yet States must ensure access for all, as well as ensuring – through adequate oversight and regulation, including effective monitoring and complaint procedures – that the actions of all actors, public and private, do not result in human rights violations.
The Pope referencing the commodification of water is not a rejection of “private sector participation,” as critics contend. In fact, in addition to the United Nations, President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency are among leading advocates for utilizing private sector solutions to rebuild American infrastructure.
The White House has laid out an ambitious plan to increase investment in U.S. roads, ports and drinking water systems, with P3s being a crucial element of the plan: “Around the country, towns, cities and states are exploring how to bring innovative financial tools such as public private partnerships to the water sector to get more projects off the ground.”
What Pope Francis is doing is shining a much-needed spotlight on the global infrastructure challenges keeping poor and vulnerable populations from having access to potable water. Pope Francis references water conservation and water quality issues, citing how “unsafe water results in many deaths and the spread of water-related diseases.” In the United States, water systems, whether publicly or privately operated, work hand in hand with regulators to ensure water stays pure and available.
Ensuring universal access to water is a goal shared by America’s private water companies. We applaud Pope Francis for highlighting the need to rebuild infrastructure around the world and will continue to work to be part of the solution.