Friday, March 20, 2009

Protect The Universal Human Right To Water















Protect The Universal Human Right To Water


Holdovers from the Bush administration have taken language to declare water a human right out of the declaration at the World Water Forum in Istanbul. It is a travesty and a nod to corporate profits to do so. Please, if you cherish water and the right of all humans to it take a moment to participate in this action to protect our water as a human right and public trust. We may not be able to be in Istanbul to let our voices be heard, but we can do it from our modems. Tell Congress that the corporate agenda regarding water must give way to a day when water is declared a human right to protect it from corporate greed, pollution, and privitization.

This Sunday March 22nd is World Water Day.

Please take this chance to do something to protect it for all.

Thanks.



Action:

Protect our right to water. If you don't speak out, our access to clean, safe, affordable water is at risk.

Many countries around the world already support the human right to water, which builds a framework of international law that provides for accessible, clean, drinking water for all. But thanks to holdover staff from the Bush Administration, the United States has recently and appallingly removed language that references the human right to water from the ministerial declaration of the 5th World Water Forum underway in Istanbul, Turkey.

This is a step backward for all those who have worked to establish the legal precedent in international law to affirm the human right to water. It is time to declare water a human right and a public good.

Global water statistics are heartbreaking:

* 1.4 billion people live without clean drinking water.
* Two-fifths of the world’s population lacks access to proper sanitation.
* Every eight seconds a child dies from drinking dirty water.
* Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with an easily preventable waterborne disease.
* 80 percent of all sickness and disease worldwide is related to contaminated water, according to the World Health Organization.
* Dirty water kills more children than war, malaria, HIV/AIDS and traffic accidents combined.


Your voice is needed immediately. Write to Congress now.

No comments:

Another World Water Day Gone

We see another World Water Day pass us by. The theme, Water For All, signifies that though some progress has been made we are woefully behin...