The article that was added to the Constitution is the following:

Article 70a (Right to drinking water)
Everyone has the right to drinking water.
Water sources are public good managed by the state.
Water resources serve primarily as the sustainable supply of drinking water and water for households and in this part are not treated as a commodity that can be traded with.
Drinking water supplied to the public and to households is provided by the state through local communities direct and non-profit.

“From the 30th January 2016 to 11th March, we have collected a list of more than 51,000 signatures in support of having the inalienable right to water written into the Constitution. We handed this list to the National Assembly on 11th March. Our Citizens initiative therefore has to this date the backing of almost 3 percent of the voting population. Even after handing in the petition signatures, we have continued our efforts by working on a positive pressure and discussing the matter with water and legal professionals. We have also engaged public authorities covering the area of water, political parties and representatives of citizen initiatives in an open discussion. The objective of our actions was to be clearly written into the Constitution that water and water land is a natural public good, over which no-one can acquire ownership rights; that everyone has the right to drinking water; that the water supply of the population cannot be owned by private companies in any legal-formal way, and that the provision of the water supply to the public is a service which should not generate profit and that the water supply of the population has the absolute precedence over economic exploitation in the case of the water crisis or drought or other crises, and that the water resources be managed sustainably, with thoughts on our posterity.By written down unalienable right to drinking water into the Constitution we are thinking about the future in the present, we will show Europe and the world that Slovenian drinking water is a public good that cannot and will not be privatized and should permanently and primarily be used to supply the population (and animals) and only after that for economic purposes in Slovenia and export purposes, provided the water supply allows for it” writes the announcement by the activists of “Civil initiative For Slovenia and freedom, Water into the Constitution, water into the conscience”

Last night the Parliament held the voting. With 64 votes in favour and none against, the 90-seat parliament added an article to the EU country’s constitution saying “everyone has the right to drinkable water”. The centre-right opposition Slovenian Democratic party (SDS) abstained from the vote saying the amendment was not necessary and only aimed at increasing public support. Slovenia is a mountainous, water-rich country with more than half its territory covered by forest. “Water resources represent a public good that is managed by the state. Water resources are primary and durably used to supply citizens with potable water and households with water and, in this sense, are not a market commodity,” the article reads.

The centre-left prime minister, Miro Cerar, had urged lawmakers to pass the bill saying the country of two million people should “protect water – the 21st century’s liquid gold – at the highest legal level”. “Slovenian water has very good quality and, because of its value, in the future it will certainly be the target of foreign countries and international corporations’ appetites.“As it will gradually become a more valuable commodity in the future, pressure over it will increase and we must not give in,” Cerar said.

Slovenia is the first European Union country to include the right to water in its constitution, although according to Rampedre (the online Permanent World Report on the Right to Water) 15 other countries across the world had already done so.

Trade Unions and Civil Society Welcome the Introduction of the Human Right to Water into the Constitution of Slovenia

Joint Press Release by EPSU, Food & Water Europe and European Water Movement*:

Last night the National Assembly of Slovenia passed an amendment to its Constitution to include a new article that recognizes the Human Right to Water. The amendment affirms water should be treated as a public good managed by the state, not as a commodity, and that drinking water must be supplied by the public sector in a non-for-profit basis. It is a great success for Slovenian activists and people.

“Citizens from across the EU and Europe have successfully mobilized to have the right to water and sanitation recognized as a human right – as decided by the United Nations – and have this put into EU law. The European Commission continues to ignore nearly two million voices of the first ever successful European Citizens Initiative. Commissioner Vella should listen to citizens and follow the Slovenian example as soon as possible,” said Jan Willem Goudriaan, EPSU General Secretary.

Water is a controversial topic in Slovenia, as foreign companies from the food and beverage industry are buying rights to a large amount of local water resources. The Slovenian government has raised concerns about the impacts of free trade agreements like CETA in its capacity to control and regulate these resources [1].

“Trade agreements and investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms can limit the ability of states to take back public control over water resources when foreign investors are involved, as it is the case in Slovenia. To guarantee the right to water and the control over this key resource, the European and the Slovenian Parliaments should reject CETA when it comes to a vote in the coming months,” said David Sánchez, Director of Food & Water Europe.

The amendment is the result of a citizens’ initiative that collected 51.000 signatures to propose a constitutional amendment [2].

“We welcome the introduction of the human right to water in the Slovenian constitution, as the great result of a citizens’ initiative. Now civil society should be vigilant to guarantee a democratic and transparent management of the integrated water cycle founded in the participation of citizens and workers,” said Jutta Schütz, speakperson at the European Water Movement.

• SAVEGREEKWATER is a member of the European Water Movement since 2012.

——

Notes

[1] The Slovenian government raised concerns about the ambiguity of terms like “commercial use of a water source” in CETA, how the agreement applies to existing water rights and the future ability of national governments to put limits on concessions already granted without being subject to claim under ICS, among others. The document can be found here
https://europeanwater.org/images/pdf/Slovenia-questions-on-Water_14-9-2016.pdf

[2] More information about this citizen’s initiative can be found at their website
https://voda.svoboda.si/

Contact:

Jutta Schütz, Speakperson, European Water Movement, +49 (0) 157 390 808 39 (mobile), juttaschuetz(at)gmx.de

David Sánchez, Director, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 485 842 604 (mobile), dsanchez(at)fweurope.org

Guillaume Durivaux, Policy officer, EPSU, +32 (0) 22501041, gdurivaux(at)epsu.org

PDF file of this press release
European Public Service Union – Food & Water Europe – European Water Movement

The recommendations of a commission set up to draft the constitutional amendment were approved by 65 votes, with the remaining 25 members either abstaining or not being present. The proposal thus reached the two-thirds necessary to kick of the process of including the right to water in the Constitution.

The text proposed by the Commission, and approved on Tuesday 12 July, states that drinking water ‘should not be treated as a commodity’  and defines drinking water provision as a ‘non-profit public service’.

The wording should protect water services for citizens from any future liberalisation initiated by the European Commission. It marks a big success for the trade unions and NGOs which have campaigned, both in Slovenian and across Europe, for the recognition of water as a human right that must be protected from privatisation.

The Right2Water campaign, initiated by EPSU, became the first successful European Citizens’ Initiative in 2013 when it submitted 1.9 million signatures in favour of guaranteed water and sanitation across Europe and against the liberalisation of water services. Slovenian surpassed the national threshold for signatures several times over. This widespread support for the right to water in Slovenia has now borne fruit with water rights set to be enshrined in the national constitution.

Social justice, environmental, and labor organizations in Europe are applauding the city of Bern for taking a bold new step to protect water as a commons.  Launched by the Blue Planet Project based in Canada, the Blue Communities certification requires municipal governments to pass legislation recognizing water as a human right and pledging to promote and protect public water and sanitation services. Let us hope than we will soon see in Greece the first blue municipality.

Aqua Publica Europea, the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), Food & Water Europe, Public Services International and the Transnational Institute are hoping this will lead to many more Blue Communities throughout the continent. Having collected almost 2 million signatures within the European Union demanding the human right to water and sanitation through the European Citizens Initiative, civil society and labour groups hope local governments will adopt this municipal initiative throughout Switzerland and Europe.

The Blue Communities Project states that, “because water is central to human activity, it must be governed by principles that allow for reasonable use, equal distribution and responsible treatment in order to preserve it for nature and future generations.”

While a growing number of Canadian municipalities have become Blue Communities, Bern is the first city in Europe to receive a Blue Communities certificate. World-renowned author and water activist, Maude Barlow is in Bern to deliver the certificate to City Council during a ceremony to be held on September 18 at 9h00 at the Erlacherhof. Along with the city, the University of Bern and the Evangelisch-reformierte Kirchgemeinde Bern-Johannes Church have passed their own resolutions to become Blue Communities and will be receiving certificates.

To read Maude Barlow’s remarks, go to: https://canadians.org/sites/default/files/water/bluecommunities/Barlow-Blue Community-Bern.pdf

To learn more about the Blue Communities Project, please visit: https://www.canadians.org/bluecommunities

Statement from the city of Bern: “Blue Community” Labels Awarded to the City and the University of Bern

UN GA-10967

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/64/L.63/Rev.1 and Add.1)]
64/292. The human right to water and sanitation
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 54/175 of 17 December 1999 on the right to
development, 55/196 of 20 December 2000, by which it proclaimed 2003 the
International Year of Freshwater, 58/217 of 23 December 2003, by which it
proclaimed the International Decade for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005–2015,
59/228 of 22 December 2004, 61/192 of 20 December 2006, by which it proclaimed
2008 the International Year of Sanitation, and 64/198 of 21 December 2009
regarding the midterm comprehensive review of the implementation of the
International Decade for Action, “Water for Life”; Agenda 21 of June 1992;1 the
Habitat Agenda of 1996;2 the Mar del Plata Action Plan of 1977 adopted by the
United Nations Water Conference;3 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development of June 1992,4
Recalling also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,5 the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,6 the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights,6 the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination,7 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women,8 the Convention on the Rights of the Child,9 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities10 and the Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949,11
Recalling further all previous resolutions of the Human Rights Council on
human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation, including Council
resolutions 7/22 of 28 March 200812 and 12/8 of 1 October 2009,13 related to the
human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, general comment
No. 15 (2002) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, on the
right to water (articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights)14 and the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights on the scope and content of the relevant human rights obligations
related to equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation under international
human rights instruments,15 as well as the report of the independent expert on the
issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and
sanitation,16
Deeply concerned that approximately 884 million people lack access to safe
drinking water and that more than 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation,
and alarmed that approximately 1.5 million children under 5 years of age die and
443 million school days are lost each year as a result of water- and sanitation-related
diseases,
Acknowledging the importance of equitable access to safe and clean drinking
water and sanitation as an integral component of the realization of all human rights,
Reaffirming the responsibility of States for the promotion and protection of all
human rights, which are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, and
must be treated globally, in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with
the same emphasis,
Bearing in mind the commitment made by the international community to fully
achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and stressing, in that context, the
resolve of Heads of State and Government, as expressed in the United Nations
Millennium Declaration, 17 to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who are
unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and, as agreed in the Plan of
Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation”), 18 to halve the proportion of people without access to
basic sanitation,
1. Recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a
human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights;

2. Calls upon States and international organizations to provide financial
resources, capacity-building and technology transfer, through international
assistance and cooperation, in particular to developing countries, in order to scale up
efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and
sanitation for all;
3. Welcomes the decision by the Human Rights Council to request that the
independent expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking
water and sanitation submit an annual report to the General Assembly,13 and
encourages her to continue working on all aspects of her mandate and, in
consultation with all relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, to
include in her report to the Assembly, at its sixty-sixth session, the principal
challenges related to the realization of the human right to safe and clean drinking
water and sanitation and their impact on the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals.
108th plenary meeting
28 July 2010

_______________
1 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June
1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and
corrigendum), resolution 1, annex II.
2 Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul, 3–14 June 1996
(United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.IV.6), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
3 Report of the United Nations Water Conference, Mar del Plata, 14–25 March 1977 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.77.II.A.12), chap. I.
4 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June
1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and
corrigendum), resolution 1, annex I.
5 Resolution 217 A (III).
6 See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
7 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 660, No. 9464.
8 Ibid., vol. 1249, No. 20378.
9 Ibid., vol. 1577, No. 27531.
A/RES/64/292
10 Resolution 61/106, annex I.
11 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973.
12 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/63/53),
chap. II.
13 See A/HRC/12/50 and Corr.1, part one, chap. I.
14 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2003, Supplement No. 2 (E/2003/22),
annex IV.
15 A/HRC/6/3.
16 A/HRC/12/24.
17 See resolution 55/2.
18 See Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August–4 September
2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 2, annex.
A/RES/64/292