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  • Mobilisation on access to drinking water and sanitation

    MOBILISATION ON ACCESS TO DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION

    European Report
    March 22, 2005

    The EU must cease encouraging privatisation of water services in
    developing countries and campaign instead for the integration of
    water in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This was
    the message sent by 65 non-governmental organisations to Development
    Commissioner Louis Michel on the occasion of World Water Day on March
    22. They recall comments by Mr Michel to the European Parliament
    in autumn 2004 that all resources need not necessarily be saleable,
    and that public services are essential in responding to basic needs
    in developing countries, with some so-called "essential services"
    needing to be exempt from market pressures. The organisations
    emphasise that translating these principles into reality and their
    application in the water sector will represent a real test for the
    enlarged EU's development policy, in line with the Millennium Goals.
    The EU is urged to alter its approach and provide substantial aid to
    projects aiming to develop effective and viable public services in
    these countries, rather than imposing privatisation.

    A call, targeted more specifically on European countries, has been
    launched by the World Health Organisation. The WHO reports that of the
    roughly 877 million people in the European region, almost 140 million
    (16%) do not have a household connection to a drinking-water supply,
    85 million (10%) do not have improved sanitation and over 41 million
    (5%) do not have access to a safe drinking-water supply. The WHO
    Regional Office for Europe has therefore launched the "International
    Decade for Action 2005-2015 Water for Life" initiative which aims to
    cut deaths due to water-related diseases. In the European Region,
    13 500 deaths a year of children under 14 years of age are due to
    poor water conditions.

    The largest contribution to this burden, with over 11 000 deaths, comes
    from a group of countries in the EUR-B sub-region (Albania, Armenia,
    Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan,
    Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Tajikistan, the
    Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and
    Uzbekistan), where the water supply and sanitation coverage is the
    most problematic. The WHO points out that it has supported European
    countries through the Protocol on Water and Health, signed in 1999
    by 36 countries in the region and ratified by 15. The Protocol aims
    to protect human health and well-being by improving water management
    and preventing, controlling and reducing water-related diseases.
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