Recognizing the Right to
Water in Argentina
Centro de Estudios Ambientales (CEDEA)
Maria Onestini
Presentation at Consultation on Good
Practices by UN Independent Expert on
Access to Safe Drinking Water and
Sanitation, Geneva 13-14 Sept. 2010
Water Access
• About 20 per cent of the total population still
lacking water access with home connections
Drinking Water Quality
• No comprehensive data
• Several sectoral studies indicate this is a
problematic area
• For example, about 10 percent of the
population consume water with high levels of
arsenic
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Argentina has a tradition of sustaining that
social and economic rights are actionable
• Justiciability in many areas
• Rights based approach implemented in
many instances (health, housing, and now
water)
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Argentina also has a proactive situation
regarding international agreements
• International law is incorporated directly into
the domestic legal system
• International human rights agreements part
of the National Constitution since the 1994
reform
• Including social, economic and cultural
rights
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
Recognition of the right to water in Argentina
originates in several legal instruments
National Constitution
•
Explicit recognition of the right to a
healthy environment in Article 41, after 1994
reform, expresses overtly a “right to a healthy,
balanced environment, apt for human
development”
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
Recognition of the right to water in Argentina
originates in several legal instruments
National Constitution
•
Article 14Bis, of the 1950s reform,
indicates the right of access to “dignified
housing” which, following right to housing
international criteria, includes adequate
services, among them water
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• Comunidad Paynemil (Neuquén Province,
Patagonia Region)
• Valentina Norte Colony (Neuquén Province,
Patagonia Region)
• City of Buenos Aires
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• Comunidad Paynemil / Valentina Norte Colony
Cases
• On behalf of children from indigenous
communities presented (and won) two cases
where right to water was claimed
• Conflict with large scale oil extraction
contaminated water sources
• Claim arrived to Provincial Supreme Court
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• Comunidad Paynemil / Valentina Norte Colony
Cases Court Ordered:
• Minimum requirement of water supply
through remedial temporary action
• Courts implementation of steps to prevent
water contamination
• To determine health impact related to the
existence of heavy metals in drinking water
• Treatment for cases where contamination –
health problems linkage was proven
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• Comunidad Paynemil / Valentina Norte Colony
Cases Execution Mixed
• Temporary provision of safe drinking water
has been met
• Construction of a potabilization plant has
began
• Some treatment of pollution-derived illnesses
was committed to, but not thoroughly
occurred
• No satisfactory corrective over arching steps
to prevent water contamination from
petroleum exploitation has taken place
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• Children’s public defender invoked (in
addition to national and local norms) the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in
these cases
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Art. 24: States Parties shall pursue full
implementation of this right and, in particular,
shall take appropriate measures:
...
( c ) To combat disease and malnutrition, including
within the framework of primary health care,
through, inter alia, the application of readily
available technology and through the provision of
adequate nutritious foods and clean drinkingwater, taking into consideration the dangers and
risks of environmental pollution;
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• City of Buenos Aires
• Albeit City of Buenos Aires is very well
provided with urban infrastructure,
including water, pockets remain pockets
with little or no adequate provision of safe
water
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• City of Buenos Aires
• Several cases have highlighted these
inequities and sought redress in these
areas (for example, Asociación Civil por la
Igualdad y la Justicia contra el Gobierno
de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires Sobre
Amparo, Exp 20898, Buenos Aires 2007)
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• City of Buenos Aires
• A court sentenced that the Government of
the City of Buenos Aires must provide
water in a continuous manner to hundreds
of families in the poorest neighborhoods
Recognizing Right to Water in Argentina:
Cases
• City of Buenos Aires
• Furthermore, in another case, a court
sentenced that the City has to implement
sanitation infrastructure in this same poor
neighborhood
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Conclusions
• Although water – related problems and
access to safe drinking water still are
crucial in Argentina, the cases here
highlighted show that:
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Conclusions
• Recognition of rights framework in
policy tools at national and local levels,
and using international obligations, can
help in moving forward the right to
water claim and exercise by local
communities, furthering accountability
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Conclusions
• These tools, when used, can move
forward the exercise of these rights and
be examples of the right to water in
order to be implemented in a broader
scale
• rponesti@criba.edu.ar
www.cedea.org.ar
Recognizing Right to Water in
Argentina
• Conclusions
• Although water – related problems and access to
safe drinking water still remains a crucial problem
in Argentina, the cases here highlighted show that:
• A rights framework can successfully be applied to
social, economic and cultural rights, including all
rights related to the access to water, to a healthy
environment and to development.