1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the human rights to safe and clean drinking water and to sanitation, which are essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights and human dignity. These rights include water supply systems and sanitation facilities that are of good quality, affordable and physically accessible, and non-discriminatory and acceptable in cultural and gender terms.
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to water for personal and domestic use, farming, fishing and livestock keeping and for securing other water-related livelihoods, ensuring the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of water. They have the right to equitable access to water and water management systems, and to be free from arbitrary disconnections or the contamination of water supplies.
3. States shall respect, protect and ensure access to water, including in customary and community-based water management systems, on a non-discriminatory basis, and shall take measures to guarantee affordable water for personal, domestic and productive uses, and improved sanitation, in particular for rural wo men and girls and persons belonging to disadvantaged or marginalized groups, such as nomadic pastoralists, workers on plantations, all migrants regardless of their migration status and persons living in irregular or informal settlements. States shall promo te appropriate and affordable technologies, including irrigation technology, and technologies for the reuse of treated wastewater and for water collection and storage.
4. States shall protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes, from overuse and contamination by harmful substances, in particular by industrial effluent and concentrated minerals and chemicals that result in slow and fast poisoning.
5. States shall prevent third parties from impairing the enjoyment of the right to water of peasants and other people working in rural areas. States shall prioritize water for human needs before other uses, promoting its conservation, restoration and sustainable use.
La Via Campesina and CETIM have organized a training course for La Via Campesina members in August 2023, and are now making training materials available to all. This material is also available in PDF version here. Session 2 of the UNDROP training seminar aims to provide a general overview and analysis of the key rights…
This booklet was first published on La Via Campesina’s website, on January 23rd, 2023. You can find it here. This is the third of four thematic booklets—part of the popular education materials to be used as a crucial step in reconnecting those who inspired and created United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and…
