Go to the main content
Que cherchez-vous ?
Faire un don

Overview

21.09.2011

Without drinking water, humans cannot survive and as a consequence, without drinking water, we cannot even talk about their human rights. The situation is critical: 1.5 billion people do not have access to drinking water and 2.6 billion are not connected to a sanitation network. Each day, more than 30,000 people die because of water-related health problems.

Making universal access to water a fundamental and inalienable human right has become our priority. In order to achieve this goal, advocacy work is necessary.

We often speak to public and political authorities so as to put forward concrete propositions, which would really change the situation. Here are some examples:

  • enshrine the right to access drinking water in every constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
  • finance and manage water supply and sanitation, basic public services, in the common interest,
  • levy 1% on the global arms budget ($1.3 billion) for 10 years, so as to finance a programme dedicated to universal access to water where facilities are insufficient,
  • provide each human being with 40 litres of drinking water per day for free.

We are also committed to acting concretely in the field so as to promote universal access to water.

We are supporting innovative projects led by local communities from southern countries. Our actions also comprise awareness-raising activities, citizens’ information and mobilisation campaigns, focusing on water issues.

In France, we are involved in public campaigns, such as the awareness-raising campaign called “the right to clean and free water” organised in 2005 and our current “Water Messengers” campaign. This insists on the essential need to recognize universal access to drinking water as an inalienable human right.