1. Human R ght to Water Benjamin Mason Meier, JD, LLM, PhD Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill American Public Health Association Annual Meeting November 9, 2009

2. International Law Public Health Human Rights THEORY EvolutionApplication

3. Human Rights-Based Approach Human Right = Valid claim & Corresponding duty ("X has a right against Y in relation to Z“) Rights holder Duty bearer Demand of Rights Programs to Realize Rights THEORY EvolutionApplication E.g.: “A child has a valid claim to a right to water, which is realized through the duties of the national government to provide water systems.” Goals – (1) Define duty-bearers and rights-holders, (2) Impose legal obligations on duty-bearers, (3) Inform rights-holders of their rights and how these rights can be claimed and enforced

4. Health & Human Rights Human Rights Matter Human Rights Evolve Evolution of Rights in International Law Health Promotion and Disease Prevention through the Right to Water Health & Human Rights International Law Human Rights Public Health The Health & Human Rights Movement THEORY EvolutionApplication

5. The Human Right to Water 1945 1965 1985 2005 Universal Declaration of Human Rights Theory EVOLUTION Application Earth Summit Millennium Development Goals MDGs for Health General Comment 15 Mar del Plata Conference Convention on the Rights of the Child

6. General Comment No.15 The adequacy of water, although variable, is determined in all circumstances by: 1.Availability 2.Quality 3.Accessibility – Physical accessibility – Economic accessibility – Non-discrimination – Information accessibility provides guidelines for States Parties on the interpretation of the rights to water States’ Obligations: (1) respect (2) protect (3) fulfil a. facilitation b. promotion c. provision States at the very least are obligated to provide minimum essential levels of the right to water Theory EVOLUTION Application

7. Application of the Right to Water Jocelyn E. Getgen, JD, MPH (Cornell Law School) – Water Wars to Water Rights: the Evolution of the Right to Water as a Public Health IssueLindsay F. Wiley, JD, MPH (Georgetown Law Center) – Climate Change and the Right to Water Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharya, JD, MPH, LLM & Nadia Ali, BA (Southern Illinois University School of Medicine) – The Right to Water, Co-Morbidities, and Social Determinants of Health Nina Miller, PhD (Water for People) – Human Rights and Development Tools: Perspectives From the Field TheoryEvolution APPLICATION