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Welcome !

The European Water Movement is an open, inclusive and pluralistic network whose goal is to reinforce the recognition of water as a commons and as a fundamental universal right. We are united to fight against privatisation and commodification of this vital good, and to construct a public and communal management of water, founded on the democratic participation of citizens and of workers.

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EU Policy Focus

The European Water Movement coordinates lobbying for its members on policy issues such as the Human Right to Water and water privatization. Discover our positions and policy areas.

EU Policy Areas

Latest News

  • Letter of the European Water Movement to the EU Parliamentarians about next 2023 UN Water Conference
  • Manifesto on Water Justice
  • Woman, Life, Freedom
  • Appeal in Defense of Water
  • International protest against Belgian dam investor who threatens river activists in Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Report of the "EU water policy" workshop by the EWM during the ESU 2022

Manifesto on Water Justice

The undersigned organizations, Indigenous Peoples, social movements and water defenders address the United Nations at the 2023 UN Water Conference to amplify the voices of the unheard and insist that the following fundamental issues be placed at the center of water policies at the global, regional, national and subnational levels:

  1. Access to water and sanitation are fundamental human rights. Water is a common good, and must be accessible to all without discrimination, under public control and not a commodity. Personal and domestic uses of water, including for hygiene, should have the highest priority over productive uses, such as agriculture and industry.
  2. Water policies must prioritize the sustainable management of rivers, lakes, wetlands, springs, and aquifers, guaranteeing their good ecological status, within the framework of the human right to a healthy environment and as key to confronting ongoing crises of pollution, deforestation, desertification, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Governments must ensure that agri-business and industrial users are accountable and responsible for their use of and impact on all natural resources, including water, based on legislation, regulation and enforcement and not rely on voluntary measures.
  3. Indigenous Peoples have distinct and inherent rights, as well as their own knowledge systems to relate to water in a harmonious way, and States must, therefore, recognize their status as collective subjects of rights and respect their territorial rights, their right to self-determination and their right to be consulted to obtain free, prior and informed consent to any project that affects them, and ensure that the management of their livelihoods, including water, is carried out in accordance with their own standards, in compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  4. States should give due recognition and support to community water and sanitation management practices, as well as to the organizations promoted, among others, by rural communities and Indigenous Peoples, by developing public-community partnerships respectful of their knowledge and traditions.
  5. In most countries, rural populations and those living in informal urban settlements are the most discriminated against in terms of access to water and sanitation services. It is the obligation of states to make access for these populations their highest priority. International cooperation must prioritize these groups in its actions.
  6. The active, free, and meaningful participation of "rights holders" in all water policy issues should be recognized, supported and guaranteed, with an emphasis on the substantially equal participation of women, overcoming the marginalization they suffer, despite the fact that they bear the greatest responsibility for and the work of supplying water to their families. Such participation must have the capacity to influence decision making, overcoming false participatory models, which only legitimize decisions taken by societal elites.
  7. Water and sanitation services must always be guided by human rights, leaving no one behind, including those who, because they live in situations of vulnerability, marginalization or poverty, find it difficult to pay. Privatization, commodification or financialization of water and sanitation services are a risk to the fulfillment of human rights, and should therefore not be considered as policies at the global, national or local level, as well as in international cooperation, which should instead promote public ownership and management, strengthened through public-public and public-community partnerships.
  8. States must protect and guarantee the rights of workers, as well as decent, fair and equitable working conditions. Access to services in spheres of life outside the home must urgently receive a high level of priority in public policies, including access in public spaces, workplaces, detention centers, schools and health facilities, and marketplaces where traders sell food and other goods in the informal economy.
  9. To solve the water crisis the current fragile UN multilateral framework must be overcome by moving toward governance that can meet the challenges presented above, establishing an intergovernmental mechanism for regular water and sanitation meetings, and concrete mechanisms for monitoring the commitments made, in which human rights subjects and holders participate fully, effectively and meaningfully.

As human rights holders and water defenders, often criminalized and persecuted for defending human rights, we demand that the UN prioritize dialogue and collaboration with frontline communities in the implementation of SDG 6 including Indigenous Peoples, peasant communities, those living in informal settlements, populations discriminated against on the basis of gender, descent and class, and all those who still do not have guaranteed access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Endorse Water Justice Manifesto

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Newsletters

  • Coordination Eau IdF - Mobilisation nationale
  • Save the blue heart of Europe - sept 2017
  • Coordination Eau IdF - 14 août 2017
  • Forum italiano - 20 marzo 2017
  • Coordination Eau IdF - 9 janvier 2017

European Citizens' Initiative

 

 Signature collection closed !

Focus on Greece

With the beginning of the Greek economic crisis, the publicly controlled water companies of Athens (EYDAP) and Thessaloniki (EYATH) were among the assets which were to be privatized according to the deal between the Greek government and its creditors.

After 2,5 years of struggle by groups in Athens (Save Greek Water) and Thessaloniki (Movement 136, Water Warriors, Soste to nero), two major events forced the government to stop. The one was the popular referendum in Thessaloniki (18 May 2014) where 98% of Thessalonians voted against the privatization of EYATH and the second was the Council of State decision 1906/2014 which ruled that the privatization of EYDAP is unconstitutional.

But the third memorandum deal pushes again for the privatization of water services. In the latest privatization plan there is a provision for the sale of 11% of EYDAP and 23% of EYATH (leaving just the 50% plus one stocks to the State) and there is a push for including the two companies in their entirety to a “superfund” which “does not belong to the public or broader public sector”.

Focus on Portugal

The Água é de todos campaign defends public water. To this end, in 2013 it launched a legislative initiative of citizens, «Protection of Individual and Common Rights for Water», signed by more than 44 thousand citizens, with a view to consecrating the right to water and preventing privatization. The project was rejected twice in Parliament, in 2014 and 2017. Only the PCP, BE, PEV MPs, joined in 2017 by those of the PAN, voted in favor. Therefore, the message of Água é de todos will continue to focus on the consecration and implementation of the human right to water, against the water trade.

Focus on Ireland

Despite several years of campaigning against the installation of residential water meters and against domestic water charges, the right2water Ireland campaign did not achieve in 2017 either the final cessation of the installation of meters, the abolition of charges which were just postponed, or the end of Irish Water. Moreover, the referendum to prevent the privatisation of water services has still not been held despite the unanimous support of the Irish Parliament. On the contrary, domestic water charges resurfaced in 2019, residential water meters continue to be installed and Irish Water is increasingly contracting out to the private sector, resulting in a deterioration of water infrastructure and water quality. A strong campaign for the right to water and democracy is more necessary than ever.

Reports & Publications

  • BREAK FREE – Restoring the biodiversity of rivers by removing dams
  • Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes
  • Destruction and Resistance in Hasankeyf and at Tigris
  • Comparison of water supplies and sanitation systems
  • Analysis of the difficulties accessing water encountered by households in arrears on their water bills in France

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