|
|
|
|
July 26, 2003 Dear Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew,
As host of the
upcoming WTO mini-ministerial in Montreal, Canada, we call upon you to
present the following statement to all attending ministers. We, the undersigned international civil society organizations, call for water to be excluded as a "good", a "service" and an "investment" from all international, regional and bilateral trade and investment negotiations and agreements. Water is not a commodity and must not be left to the whims of the market because no person or entity has the right to profit from it. Water must not, therefore, be commodified, privatized, traded or exported for commercial gain. Every human being has the right to clean water. Water, as a public trust and an inalienable human right, must be controlled by the peoples and communities that rely on it for their lives and livelihoods. The management of water services must not only remain in public hands, but must be revitalized and strengthened to make community and worker participation central in order to democratize decision-making processes and ensure transparency and accountability. This participation must be extended to the state, regional, and international level in all decisions pertaining to water resources.
In this context and
to this end, we call upon the ministers attending the Montreal WTO
mini-ministerial to declare their commitment to water as a human right and
to further commit to exclude water from all trade and investment
negotiations and agreements. See
Also:
| |
|
HOME
|
ABOUT APL |
PRESS STATEMENTS |
POSITION PAPERS |
BASIC DOCUMENTS | |
|
Alliance of Progressive
Labor (APL) 2003 | |
