The New Zealand Human Rights Commission has produced this paper on human rights and water at a time of increased public debate about the human rights implications of water, who “owns” it, how it should be allocated and used, who should supply it, its cost and quality and how it should be regulated.
The paper was written when water is being described as the new oil and when there are heightened tensions around water globally. This prompted the United Nations to increase attention on water from the perspective of the human rights framework.The paper uses a human rights approach based on current United Nations guidance from the Independent Experts it appointed on human rights and water and on human rights and business.
In the New Zealand context human rights considerations are relevant to:
- the evolving debate, nationally and regionally, about water ownership, governance, management and administration
- fundamental issues related to access to water and the supply and quality of water, that impact on economic, social and cultural, and civil and political rights.
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to promote the human rights implications of water at a time when the supply of water, access to it, and its quality are matters of national interest and are at a critical juncture. The Human Rights Commission believes that a human rights approach, which draws on the latest domestic and international information, will be of help to legislators, policy-makers and communities in balancing conflicting interests and points of view. The paper does not purport to be a comprehensive account of freshwater resources in New Zealand.