Steering the water sector

Implementing HR in the water sector:

UN human rights system now has a separate mechanism exclusively dedicated to issues related to the right to water and sanitation. The resolution also confirms that governments have obligations to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation under international human rights law.

Here in Male’ we seem to have forgotten the stenching smell of groundwater in densely packed islands after our tap started running desalinated water. We pay $$ for that convenience without realizing that foreign private companies are gearing up to control the multimillion-dollar market to “upgrade” the nation's ancient water and sanitation systems.

Think. Coastal Cartagena was the first of about 50 cities and towns to privatize its water in Colombia. The capital Bogotá bucked the privatization trend, refused World Bank money and transformed its public utility into the most successful in Colombia. Which direction shall we go? Which ever course we decide on it is vital that we realize that MONOPOLY and CORRUPTION are the two ugly faces of underdevelopment.