News Categories Political News CHILE: WATER "RECOVERY" MOVEMENT ADVANCES
| CHILE: WATER "RECOVERY" MOVEMENT ADVANCES |
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| Written by Benjamin Witte | |
| Monday, 27 April 2009 | |
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Danielle Mitterrand: “Water Is A Fundamental Human Right” On Monday, members of the “recuperemos el agua para Chile” (let’s get Chile’s water back) campaign made their presence known once again, insisting during a day-long seminar in Santiago that their movement is very much alive and relevant. “We think there’s an urgent need to change the legal framework,” said Sara Larraín, head of a Santiago-based NGO called Programa Chile Sustentable. “Without a doubt we must reform the Constitution. It’s going to take several years, but we have to start now.” Chile’s Constitution, implemented in 1980, states: “the rights that individuals have over water…gives the holders (of those rights) ownership.” One year later the military regime passed the Water Code, which defines the country’s fresh water resources as “a national good to be used publicly and over which private individuals are given usage rights.” Together the two documents paved the way for what observers call the world’s most “ultra-liberal” water market, an experiment in fundamental neo-conservative economics that has resulted in the concentration of water rights in the hands of large corporations. “The press talks about different water conflicts as if they were totally unrelated,” said Larraín. “But those conflicts are completely related – related to the economic activities that have been set up in the various regions. They’re activities that aren’t there for the benefit of local communities, but rather for export, at the cost of local communities.” Larraín, one of Chile’s most outspoken environmentalists, was joined Monday by Sen. Guido Girardi of the Party for Democracy, Aysén Bishop Luis Infanti, Patricio Rodrigo of the Patagonia sin Represas (Patagonia without Dams) campaign and Sen. Carlos Ominami of the Socialist Party. The seminar was also attended by two prominent European guests: Pedro Arrojo of Spain’s New Culture of Water Foundation, and former French first lady Danielle Mitterrand. “Water cannot be a source of wealth for certain people or certain private sectors. Water belongs to everyone. It’s a common good for all humanity. Everyone should have the right to access this resource,” said Mitterrand. “Water must be written into constitutions as a fundamental right of mankind,” she added. “Water isn’t a market. It’s a fundamental human right.” By Benjamin Witte ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 27 April 2009 ) |
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