The periodic reporting procedure of the United Nations System and the human right to water: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Water is fundamental to life. Yet it was only in the 1970s that access to water began to be discussed at the international level as a human right. Before that, some United Nations Conventions and Treaties recognized the right to water in some way, but this right had to be inferred from other rights or was limited to a certain category of people. Regardless of their limitations, these texts can be seen to support the implementation of the human right to water, especially through their monitoring mechanisms: the periodic reporting procedure and the contentious cases. The objective of this article is to analyse the extent to which the periodic reporting procedure contributes to the implementation of the human right to water. To that aim, qualitative methodology will be used. Documentary research, the study of jurisprudence and international legislation will be used to support information regarding universal access to potable water. It seems that the periodic reporting procedure indeed reinforces the existence of a human right to water, but as far as its effective implementation is concerned, the contribution of this monitoring mechanism depends on the compliance of the countries.

Keywords

• human right to water. united nations system. monitoring. reporting procedures.