[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens: US, UN must declare clean water a human right

Wed Mar 26 19:58:35 PDT 2008

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Greens urge endorsement of UN resolution
declaring access to clean water a human right

• Green leaders and candidates warn of danger to
ecology, public health, and security because of
water privatization and effects of global warming

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called for
the US to support a United Nations Human Rights
Commission (UNHRC) resolution declaring clean
water a universal human right.

The US and Canada are the only two nations
objecting to UN recognition of the right to
water.  The Green Party of Canada has also called
for the Canadian government to endorse the
resolution
(http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/20.03.2008),
which is currently under discussion at a UNHRC
session in Geneva that will end on March 28

"The Green Party endorses the principle that
unadulterated fresh water must always be publicly
owned and freely available for public use.  We
support investment in public infrastructure to
ensure safe and clean fresh water supplies and in
sanitation projects in the US and around the
world, with the creation of new jobs in water
provision and conservation," said Steve Alesch,
Illinois Green candidate for Congress (District
13) (http://www.votesteve.org).

Greens foresee growing international conflict
over access to clean water as the global climate
continues to heat up and populations continue to
grow.  The party urges Americans to understand
that privatization of water has already resulted
in greater impoverishment and public health
threats in Africa and Latin America, as well as
an increase in cost and lower quality of services
in the US.

"Trade agreements have allowed corporations to
invest in poor countries by taking over publicly
owned water utilities, driving up prices and
restricting access," said Carol Wolman, MD, Green
candidate for Congress in California's District 1
(http://www.carolwolmanforcongress.com).  "People
who cannot afford to pay for fresh water have
sought it from unpurified sources, leading to
outbreaks of dysentery, cholera, and other
diseases.  The Green Party has opposed
privatization and has sharply criticized
international trade deals like NAFTA and GATT and
the antidemocratic power of the World Trade
Organization, the World Bank, and other
authorities."

Green leaders expressed fears that the US and
other developed countries with high consumption
levels will raid poorer nations' water supplies,
comparing the situation to the takeover of
agricultural land in Latin America and Africa for
the benefit of the US and other developed
countries and to the detriment of local economies
and access to food.

Many Canadians, including the Green Party of
Canada, have objected to the prospect of bulk
water exports to the United States under trade
agreements like NAFTA and the Security and
Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

"Fresh water will become scarce in many parts of
the world as glaciers and mountaintop snow vanish
and rivers dry up because of global warming,"
said Bob Kinsey, Green candidate for the US
Senate in Colorado
(http://www.kinseyforsenate.org).  "Breakdowns
caused by flooding, droughts, and storms related
to global warming will deny millions of people
access to fresh water and sanitation."

"The immediate effects and aftermath of
hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast are
models for what we can expect.  Fresh water
supplies are already becoming stressed in the
western US, with legal battles over water rights.
  Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has
embraced the exploitation of these disasters and
shortages for the sake of corporate profits, and
trade pacts like NAFTA have enjoyed the support
of leading Democratic and Republican politicians,
including presidential candidates," said Mr.
Kinsey.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Green candidate database for 2007 and other
campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
For Green speakers on the Security and Prosperity
Partnership of North America, visit
http://gp.org/speakers/spp.shtml
• Green Party ballot access page
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
• 2008 Green National Convention: Live Green,
Vote Green
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Green Party Platform: section on water
http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/ecology.html#753961

"Climate Change Deepening World Water Crisis"
By Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, March 22,
2008
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41659

"Water will be source of war unless world acts
now, warns minister"
By Ben Russell, The Independent, March 22, 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/water-will-be-source-of-war-unless-world-acts-now-warns-minister-799292.html

Sierra Club page on corporate water privatization
http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/human_right/

History of the Cochabamba (Bolivia) Water Wars in
2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochabamba_protests_of_2000

"Seeking the Water Jackpot" (Navajos water rights
in southwestern states)
By by Matt Jenkins, High Country News, March 17,
2008
http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17573

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