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party’s jurisdiction should not deprive another country of the ability to realize the right to
water for persons in its jurisdiction
This includes remaining from using water “as an instrument of political and economic pressure” such as preventing the supply of water reaching another country;
or, allowing communities of citizens from violating the water rights of their counterparts in other countries.
Finally, CESCR also connected the right to water to the right to food:
The Committee notes the importance of ensuring sustainable access to water resources for
agriculture to realize the right to adequate food. Attention should be given to ensuring that
disadvantaged and marginalized farmers, including women farmers, have equitable access
to water and water management systems, including sustainable rain harvesting and irrigation technology.
In addition, food and water are very closely linked with each other in human
rights law. For example, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women (Article 14) calls on parties to ensure that women
have equal access to “adequate and healthy living conditions” where adequate living
conditions also include electricity.
Finally, there is a growing movement under human rights law to give rivers themselves the status of “legal persons.” For example, New Zealand’s parliament passed
an act giving the Whanganui River and ecosystem legal standing, guaranteeing its
“health and well-being.” Also building of human rights law, Ecuador enshrined in
its constitution the rights of nature. A court in India ruled that the Ganges and
Yamuna rivers have the “status of a legal person, with all the corresponding rights,
duties and liabilities… in order to preserve and conserve them.”
6.2.4.3 Energy
While discussion of the right to energy is in its infancy compared to that of the right
to food or the right to water, a growing body of literature addresses the concepts of
energy poverty, energy justice, and access to energy as a precondition for ensuring
socio-economic human rights.
The connection between access to energy and human rights was first acknowledged in the World Commission on Environment and Development report in 1987
(Brundtland report), which stated that energy services are a crucial input to the primary development challenge of providing, for example, adequate food and water.
Among other things, energy enables cooking, piped water and sewerage facilities,
and fuels agriculture.
Although there is no explicit mention of energy in the global human rights treaties, it has been strongly argued that access to energy is a fundamental precondition
for the fulfillment of human rights obligations (Bradbrook et al. 2008).
Regulating energy is a matter of reconciling mutually conflicting interests of
security, affordability, and sustainability. The food–energy–water nexus in international energy law can be seen as an aspect of global sustainability efforts. However,
A. Belinskij et al.
party’s jurisdiction should not deprive another country of the ability to realize the right to
water for persons in its jurisdiction
This includes remaining from using water “as an instrument of political and economic pressure” such as preventing the supply of water reaching another country;
or, allowing communities of citizens from violating the water rights of their counterparts in other countries.
Finally, CESCR also connected the right to water to the right to food:
The Committee notes the importance of ensuring sustainable access to water resources for
agriculture to realize the right to adequate food. Attention should be given to ensuring that
disadvantaged and marginalized farmers, including women farmers, have equitable access
to water and water management systems, including sustainable rain harvesting and irrigation technology.
In addition, food and water are very closely linked with each other in human
rights law. For example, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women (Article 14) calls on parties to ensure that women
have equal access to “adequate and healthy living conditions” where adequate living
conditions also include electricity.
Finally, there is a growing movement under human rights law to give rivers themselves the status of “legal persons.” For example, New Zealand’s parliament passed
an act giving the Whanganui River and ecosystem legal standing, guaranteeing its
“health and well-being.” Also building of human rights law, Ecuador enshrined in
its constitution the rights of nature. A court in India ruled that the Ganges and
Yamuna rivers have the “status of a legal person, with all the corresponding rights,
duties and liabilities… in order to preserve and conserve them.”
6.2.4.3 Energy
While discussion of the right to energy is in its infancy compared to that of the right
to food or the right to water, a growing body of literature addresses the concepts of
energy poverty, energy justice, and access to energy as a precondition for ensuring
socio-economic human rights.
The connection between access to energy and human rights was first acknowledged in the World Commission on Environment and Development report in 1987
(Brundtland report), which stated that energy services are a crucial input to the primary development challenge of providing, for example, adequate food and water.
Among other things, energy enables cooking, piped water and sewerage facilities,
and fuels agriculture.
Although there is no explicit mention of energy in the global human rights treaties, it has been strongly argued that access to energy is a fundamental precondition
for the fulfillment of human rights obligations (Bradbrook et al. 2008).
Regulating energy is a matter of reconciling mutually conflicting interests of
security, affordability, and sustainability. The food–energy–water nexus in international energy law can be seen as an aspect of global sustainability efforts. However,
A. Belinskij et al.