Water - Two European Citizens' Initiatives

Two groups of civil society organisations will launch 2 European citizens' initiatives in favour of the promotion of the human right to water. They don’t talk about the right to water in small farmers’ context.

 

Focused on Europe, they will have only indirect impact on Africa. But it is interesting to note that this EPSU Initiative asks for the EU to act at international level for the implementation of this right to water and sanitation.

 

 

1. The first ECI to be launched by EPSU (European Federation of Public Service Unions) focuses on the implementation of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation recognized by the UN in 2010.

 

This ECI will be launched in April 2012. Signature collection is scheduled from June 2012 to May 2013.

 

The EPSU (European Federation of Public Service Unions) European Citizens' Initiative calls for the implementation of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation by national Governments recognised by UN in 2010. The EPSU asks for proposition by the European Commission to guarantee effective implementation of the human right to water and sanitation within the EU, to obtain that water management is public and outside any form of liberalization and that EU support developing countries further away for the implementation of this right to water and sanitation.

To read the petition:

More info: http://www.epsu.org/a/8263

 

 

2. The second ECI will be launched by the European associative water platform (IERPE and R Petrella initiative). It focuses on amendments of the Water Framework Directive of 2000 of the European Union in order to recognize water as a common good.

 

This ECI-Water initiative will be transmitted to the EC in January 2013. The collection of signatures is scheduled from March 2013 to February 2014.

 

The second ECI to be launched by the European associative water platform (R Petrella initiative) calls for modification of the European Water Framework Directive of 2000 in order to recognize water as a common good, to affirm that funding for services related to Water for Life must be public and to provide for genuine citizen participation in government water. http://ierpe.eu/articles.php?lng=en&pg=156