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Status of the General Comment
Several states have consistently refused to acknowledge that access to water is a human right, rather than just a basic need. Since 2002, when General Comment No. 15 on the right to water was adopted, some critics of the status of water as a human right have argued that the General Comment is only an interpretive tool and does not, in itself, constitute legally binding ‘hard law’.
This argument rests on the assumption that the General Comment is the only UN document in which the right to water has been enumerated. It is clear that General Comments cannot create new human rights. They simply provide interpretations of existing human rights. They are often drafted in order to clarify state obligations, as a result of the consistent failure of states to comply with these obligations.
As the General Comment acknowledges, the right to water is enshrined in two of the six core human rights treaties: the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1979) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). These two treaties are legally binding upon all states that have signed them, which in the case of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is all but two of the countries in the world.
Since non-discrimination is a fundamental principle of human rights, embedded in many legal instruments, the recognition in international legal instruments of the inherent right to water of women and children means that men must also have this right.
Hence, the right to water exists for all.
Download the full text of General Comment No. 15. The text is also available in French and Spanish on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
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