Defining and Defending the Human Right to Water and its Minimum Core: Legal Construction and the Role of National Jurisprudence

123 Pages Posted: 7 Dec 2010 Last revised: 17 Mar 2015

See all articles by George S. McGraw

George S. McGraw

DigDeep Right to Water Program; United Nations Mandated University for Peace

Date Written: November 30, 2010

Abstract

This article attempts to contribute to the ongoing academic dialogue surrounding water and its centrality to human life. Its purpose is to provide insight into what may be the most notable water management innovation in human history: the universal human right to water. Specifically, this essay seeks to outline the source and content of the right to water and that right’s “minimum core” – both concepts that have reached the level of positive international law. It will then summarize the recent work of numerous national courts “giving content” to the human right to water, addressing the ways in which the international legal norm is strengthened or challenged by this jurisprudence. Without an international body capable of enforcement, the human right to water depends on this activity of national courts to make its philosophical “universality” a matter of legal fact.

Keywords: Water, Human Rights, Minimum Core, Right to Water, International Law, National Jurisprudence, Resource Law, United Nations, Human Development, Sanitation

Suggested Citation

McGraw, George S., Defining and Defending the Human Right to Water and its Minimum Core: Legal Construction and the Role of National Jurisprudence (November 30, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1721029 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1721029

George S. McGraw (Contact Author)

DigDeep Right to Water Program ( email )

1010 N Central Ave.
Suite 460
Glendale, CA California 91202
United States
323 250 3844 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://digdeepwater.org

United Nations Mandated University for Peace ( email )

Costa Rica

HOME PAGE: http://gmcgrawresume.blogspot.com/

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