UN Independent Water Expert Takes Testimony at Boston Hearing; Issues Report
BOSTON/Beacon Hill - Over 30 water advocates and allies attended a hearing convened by Catarina de Albuquerque, the United Nations Independent Expert on the right to water and sanitation, on Friday, Feb. 25th. De Albuquerque was in Boston as part of a mission "to examine the way in which the human right to water and sanitation is being realized in the United States" in the wake of the United Nation recognition of the right to water and sanitation last year by the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights council. The independent expert visited California, Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington, DC between Feb. 22nd and March 4th.
The Boston hearing was organized by Clean Water Action, Massaschusetts Global Action, and the Unitarian-Univeralist Service Committee, and included testimony from those organizations plus El Movimiento, Youth Build and a private contractor. Many of the testifiers hoped to see the US ratify all the treaties that will enshrine the right to clean water and decent sanitation - including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and the Optional Protocols thereto.
De Albuquerque released the report on her mission to the US on March 4th, and pointed out that while the US has taken some encouraging steps she feels it "needs to develop a national water policy and plan of action guided by the normative content of the right to water and sanitation." The independent expert noted the absence of a federally recognized right to safe drinking water and sanitation, and was "concerned that several laws, policies and practices, while appearing neutral at face value, have a disproportionate impact on the enjoyment of human rights by certain groups. For example, a study by Massachusetts Global Action examined the racial impact of water pricing and shut-off policies of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and found that for every 1 per cent increase in the city ward’s percentage of people of colour, the number of threatened cut offs increases by 4 per cent."
Advocates have stated that they will continue to organize to push the US government to guarantee the right to water and sanitation - especially in the Boston area, where they would like to see, an end to water pricing and shut-off policies that negatively impact large numbers of people that lack the ability to keep up with rising water costs.
This article is a news brief.
Full disclosure: Open Media Boston editor Jason Pramas welcomed the UN independent expert to Boston at the beginning of the hearing above at the request of the event organizers. Pramas is a founder and former staffer and board member of Massachusetts Global Action.
