Access to Safe and Affordable Drinking Water as a Fundamental Human Right: The Case of the Republic of Slovenia

Abstract

Although more than 71 per cent of the Earth is covered by water, 97 per cent of that volume is saltwater held in the oceans. Of the remaining water, 2 per cent is freshwater locked away in snow and ice, leaving less than 1 per cent available for human requirements (Williams, 2016). Yet, water is crucial for human survival. Therefore, access to water must be recognised as a fundamental human right. In 2010, the United Nations adopted Resolution 64/292 which explicitly recognises the human right to water and sanitation, acknowledges that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential for the realisation of all human rights, and seeks to protect water as a national resource and the people that need it the most. Despite the adoption of the aforementioned Resolution, water remains a hugely pertinent issue across the world, particularly in areas where water is considered predominantly as a tradeable commodity. Hence, Water and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the 2015 UN-Water Annual International Zaragoza Conference are extremely important in terms of water protection, preservation and sustainable development. This chapter discusses access to water as a fundamental precondition of life, noting that the Republic of Slovenia became one of the first countries in the world to include the human right to water in its Constitution in 2017. The authors believe that this is an excellent example for other countries to change their legislation in favour of protecting the fundamental human right to access to water. It also presents further possibilities for achieving SDG 6.1 (and other SDGs related to water) in practice.

Citation

Eman, K. and Meško, G. (2020), "Access to Safe and Affordable Drinking Water as a Fundamental Human Right: The Case of the Republic of Slovenia", Blaustein, J., Fitz-Gibbon, K., Pino, N.W. and White, R. (Ed.) The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice and Sustainable Development, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 465-484. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-355-520201025