Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-03-Speech-3-263"
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"en.20030903.10.3-263"2
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"Mr President, in the last 10 years there have been several international conferences on the theme of access to clean drinking water. We know that in many areas there has been failure, not least in the commitment to ensure that everyone would have access to clean water by the year 2000. In 10 years the number of those suffering from a shortage of clean water has instead increased by half a billion, the number at present being approximately 1.7 billion. One in four people in the world drinks dirty water.
The situation is compelling decision-makers to take a serious look at whether the measures taken have been at all the right ones. Universal, equitable and non-discriminatory access to clean water is a basic human right. A shortage of water is a self-evident cause of the spiral of poverty. Experience has shown that it is impossible to leave the problem of water shortages to the market to resolve. The invisible hand of the market is hardly likely to hand a glass of water to someone who is thirsty. We also have to recognise the fact that privatisation normally means higher prices for water and purification services, which naturally cause the greatest problems for the poorest people.
Because access to water has been established as a basic right it should affect the way we think about it. Water resources should not be seen as one country’s private property, but as a shared global resource. It must be said, however, that if water is treated as a free commodity to be shared, it weakens the potential for organising a highly functional water supply. For that reason, the flexible practices called for in the amendments in order to mix the public with the private are needed, as long as a person’s right to water is considered to be something basic that can never be given up.
Mr Lannoye’s report intelligently highlights the connection between access to water and purification and hygiene. Around 6 000 people, mainly children, die each day of infectious diseases, often caused by poor hygiene. It would be a fundamental error to view water, sanitation and hygiene as separate issues. Now, more than anything, we should increase those domestic and international resources that can be used to improve the water supply and sanitation in city slums and shanty villages as well as in rural areas. Of key importance is linking sanitation with the water supply, which will not succeed if there is no substantial additional investment on the part of those responsible for the water supply. We must, moreover, develop people-oriented technology for households as a solution to water and water purification problems.
I wish to express my support for Amendment No 19, which requests the application of a water-debt trade-off, so that debts can be cancelled and the money used to fund basic water purification infrastructures."@en1
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