A conceptual framework for a human rights-based approach to water

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Pages: 149-174
• Citation: (2019) 6(1) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 149
• Author: Niyi-Gafar, O.L.

149

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR A HUMAN

RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO WATER

Oluwabunmi Niyi-Gafar*

Abstract

Since the recognition of access to safe drinking water as a human right, nations

have been charged with the responsibility of progressively realising access to water

for their citizenry. Various approaches have been suggested, one of which includes

a human rights-based approach. A human rights-based approac h to water does not

have a specific definition, however, it encompasses the principles that are necessary

to aid a progressive realisation of access to water amongst the people, especially

the poor. This approach to access to water takes into cognisance, the availability of

water, the affordability of water and a constant quantity which must be of good

quality. Beyond describing what a ‘human rights-based approach to water’ entails

this article expounds South Africa’s application of this approach to ensur ing access

to water for its citizens. It further suggests areas where this approach may prove

useful where considered and applied in other African countries, especially Nigeria,

to ensure a progressive realisation of access to water.

Keywords: Human rights, access to water, human rights-based approach,

right to water, drinking water

Résumé

Depuis que l’accès à l’eau potable a été reconnu comme étant aussi un droit

humain, les nations ont dès lors la responsabilité de réaliser progressivement l’accès

à l’eau pour leurs citoyens.

Diverses approches ont été suggérées, dont l’une comprend l’approche fondée

sur les droits de l’homme. Une approche fondée sur les droits de l’homme en matière

d’eau n’a pas de définition spécifique, mais elle englobe les principes nécessaires

pour favoriser la réalisation progressive de l’accès à l’eau par les populations, en

particulier par les pauvres. Cette approche de l’accès à l’eau prend en compte la

disponibilité de l’eau, son prix abordable et une quantité constante qui doit être de

bonne qualité. En plus de décrire en quoi consiste une « approche fondée sur les

droits de l’homme en matière d’eau », cet article relate l’implémentation de cette

approche par l’Afrique du Sud visant à garantir à ses citoyens un accès à l’eau.

Il suggère en outre les domaines dans lesquels cette approche peut s’avérer utile

lorsqu’elle est envisagée et implémentée dans d’autres pays africains, notamment le

Nigéria, afin de garantir la réalisation progressive de l’accès à l’eau.

Mots-clés: Droits de l’homme, accès à l’eau, approche basée sur les droits de

l’homme, droit à l’eau, eau potable

* Faculty of Law, University of Ilor in, Niger ia.

(2019) 6(1) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 149

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150 JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW IN AFRICA VOL 6, NO 1, 2019

Introduction

Access to (safe drinking) water refers to the distance, the available

quantity and the quality of water available for a person’s domestic use.1

According to this definition of access to safe drinking water proffered

by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s

Fund, the distance to the water should be less than one kilometre, the

quantity available to each person each day should be at least twenty litres

and the source of water should either be a household connection, public

standpipe, rainwater or a protected source.2 This definition of access to

safe drinking water encompasses the requirements ascribed to a ‘human

right to water’ (such as the quantity, quality and the physical accessibility

to water), as defined by the United Nations General Comment 15.3 This

is to say that access to water and a human right to water though used

interchangeably do not necessarily mean the same thing. While a human

right to water ‘entitles everyone to sufficient, safe acceptable, physically

accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use’, the term

‘access to water’ refers to the method or the process of acquiring water

for domestic and personal use. In other words, access to sufficient water

for domestic use may be realised through commercial means (where same

is not necessarily affordable) or from an unimproved source (such as the

rivers and streams); these methods of realising ‘access to water’ cannot be

referred to as a human right to water.

Access to clean water and the human right to water are usually discussed

through the lens of a human rights-based approach to development.4 This

is not completely misplaced, as there is a relationship between human

rights generally and development.5 Although the human right to water

and the right to development are separate rights, both rights share similar

characteristics as both rights are associated with human well-being.6

Without access to clean water for survival and good health, a discussion

on human well-being cannot exist. Further more, there can be no proper

development without access to water, because water cuts across all areas

1 WHO ‘Health through safe drinking water and basic sanitation’ (2006).

int/water_sanitation_health/mdg1/en/> accessed 6 February 2015.

2 Ibid.

3 E/C12/2002/11 Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International

Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. General Comment 15 para 2.

4 Filmer-Wilson E, ‘The Human Rights-Based Approach to Development the Right to

Water’(2005) 23 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 213.

5 Olowu, D An integrative rights-based approach to human development in Africa (2009) Pretoria

University Law Press; Uvin, P ‘From the right to development to the rights-based approach: how

human rights entered development’ (2007) 17 Development in Practice 597.

6 Olowu, D ‘Human development challenges in Africa: A rights-based approach’ (2004) 5 San

Diego International Law Journal 179, 184–185.

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