UNITED
NATIONS
E
Economic and Social
Council
Distr.
GENERAL
E/C.12/2002/11
20 January 2003
Original: ENGLISH
COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Twenty-ninth session
Geneva, 11-29 November 2002
Agenda item 3
SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES ARISING IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS
General Comment No. 15 (2002)
The right to water (arts. 11 and 12 of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
I. INTRODUCTION
1.
Water is a limited natural resource and a public good fundamental for life
and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human
dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights. The Committee
has been confronted continually with the widespread denial of the right to water in
developing as well as developed countries. Over one billion persons lack access to a
basic water supply, while several billion do not have access to adequate sanitation,
which is the primary cause of water contamination and diseases linked to water.1 The
1
In 2000, the World Health Organization estimated that 1.1 billion persons did not have
access to an improved water supply (80 per cent of them rural dwellers) able to
provide at least 20 litres of safe water per person a day; 2.4 billion persons were
estimated to be without sanitation. (See WHO, The Global Water Supply and
Sanitation Assessment 2000, Geneva, 2000, p.1.) Further, 2.3 billion persons each
year suffer from diseases linked to water: see United Nations, Commission on
Sustainable Development, Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of
the World, New York, 1997, p. 39.
GE.03-40229