Water and Sanitation (Right to)

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ESCR-Net challenges large-scale disconnection of water supply to tens of thousands of low-income residents in Detroit

ESCR-Net has requested leave from the U.S. District Court to be recognized as amicus curiae in support of residents challenging the City of Detroit’s decision to cut off water supply to thousands of households unable to pay their bills

Case of the Indigenous Community Xákmok Kásek v. Paraguay

The Xákmok Kásek indigenous community, who has originally lived in the Paraguayan Chaco area, filed a petition before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights requesting acknowledgement of their traditional territory. Paraguay sold and split up the land without taking into consideration the indigenous population. The Salazar ranch was founded in the land that had been the home of the Xákmok Kásek community for years. The community’s ability to survive and to develop its way of life was restricted, and the State failed to fulfill its duty to guarantee the community’s territorial rights.

Collective letter urges Mexico to protect the rights of the Yaqui indigenous people

On 30 June, ESCR-Net sent a letter to the Government of Mexico to urge full protection for the rights of the Yaqui indigenous people who face serious threats as a result of the development of the “Independence Aqueduct” in the state of Sonora

Pascua Lama Case

Diaguita communities and individuals living in the Huasco river's high basin, in the Atacama region of Chile, filed an action to protect constitutional rights against Compañía Minera Nevada SpA (a subsidiary of Canada-based Barrick Gold) and the Comisión de Evaluación Ambiental (Chile's government agency dealing with environmental issues).

Impacts of Ecological Water Bodies Destruction and Livelihoods

From 28 April to 5 May, Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum (PFF) celebrated its founding day under the theme "Impacts of Ecological Water Bodies Destruction and Livelihoods".

Indigenous Communities in Paraguay and Ecuador Sign Declaration to Promote Enforcement of Decisions related to the Right to Land

Representatives of the Sarayaku people (Ecuador), Dejusticia (Colombia), and Fundación Pachamama (Ecuador) , with the support of ESCR-Net, came together at meetings organized by the Enxet-Sanapaná people together with Tierraviva (Paraguay) on September 26-27. The discussions focused on enforcing decisions by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).

Colombia Constitutional Court T-291/09

Recycling activities in Colombia have traditionally been carried out by extremely poor and marginalized sectors of society, who collect materials from landfills or inorganic waste from the streets to transport and sell them as recyclable material to intermediary informal warehouses of the national and multinational industry from refuse deposited on the street and sell it to warehouses for modest sums.

Advancing ESCR in Mongolia and China – Lawyers, community leaders and academics gathered for strategic litigation workshops

On April 17-19, 2013, ESCR-Net and the Center for Human Rights and Development brought together lawyers, experts, and community leaders from Mongolia to enhance knowledge about the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR; build networks of solidarity and support among lawyers and activists and support Mongolian organizations to identify potential cases that could be advanced under the OP-ICESCR.

Peru: Stop the loss of lives during anti-mining protests

On July 11, 2012, ESCR-Net transmitted a communication to the Government of Peru to request urgent action to protect the human rights of people protesting the Conga gold mine after five people lost their lives in the week of July 3.

Langaville Informal Settlement Case

In September 2011, the residents of Langaville Informal Settlement (comprised of more than one thousand and five hundred households and four thousand and six hundred residents) represented by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), requested an order directing the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to provide sufficient access to water and basic sanitation recognized in the Constitution of South Africa, through the Water Services Act, Regulation 3 of the Regulations Relating to Compulsory National Standards and Measures to Conserve Water (GN R509 in GG 22355 of 8 June