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Cuba Statement at First Anniversary of the Adoption of the Human Right To Water and Sanitation.

Statement by Ambassador Rodolfo Benitez Verson, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Cuba to the United Nations, at the General Assembly Plenary Meeting, on the First Anniversary of the Adoption of the Human Right To Water and Sanitation. New York, 27 July 2011.New York, 27 July 2011.
Mr. President,
Cuba welcomes the participation in this debate of the dear comrade Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. We fully associate ourselves with his statement and we thank him for the leadership of his country in matters of highest importance for the international community, as the one we discuss today.
Water is essential for the very survival of humankind, since, as it is wisely stated, Water is Life.
Resolution 64/292 on The Human Right to Water and Sanitation adopted a year ago, as an initiative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, marked a historic moment. For the first time, the United Nations recognized the right to drinking water and sanitation as an essential human right.
While we are making speeches in this room, there are over 884 million people on our planet without access to a drinking water source, and 2.6 billion people, of which almost 1 billion are children, have no access to basic sanitation services.
We cannot remain passive before the death of over 3.5 million people each year caused by diseases transmitted by contaminated water, and the fact that one out of eight people in the world lack drinking water.
If we do not act rapidly and efficiently, in 2025 more than 3 billion people will suffer the consequences of water shortage.
The majority of the world population lives in developing countries, where the main use of water is related to agriculture. Therefore, water shortage, determined among other reasons by climate change on water resources, will seriously affect agriculture, aquaculture and other forms of food production, aggravating the already complex food security of developing countries.

International cooperation must be strengthened to contribute to the development of infrastructure, capacity-building in the area of water resources management, adaptation to climate change, and innovation and transfer of technology to improve the access to water resources and sanitation.

Funds and financial mechanisms, which are not subject to the discriminatory and conditional dictates of the World Bank and the International Financial Fund, must be created. These funds, whether sponsored by the United Nations or not, must supply tangible resources both financial and technological to favor the increase in coverage for drinking water and environmental sanitation, agriculture and aquaculture production, integrated water management, and sustainable ecosystem management.
Mr. President,
Cuba, who achieved since 1995 the Millennium Development Goal on the use of drinking water and sanitation, considers that water is a fundamental human right. In our country, the State is in charge of water management and control and sanitation, as well as the study, assessment, execution, and monitoring of projects.

Our country has undertaken numerous actions to guarantee the human right to water and sanitation. Some of these actions are:

• Improvement of the water supply and quality promoting its rational use.

 

• A thirty-percent decrease of water consumption in production processes.

• Yearly reduction of the morbidity rate due to waterborne diseases.

 

• Water supply for over 96% of the population.

• Increase in the coverage, chlorination levels and quality of drinking water.

 

• Development of early warning systems for drought.

Despite these achievements, as the rest of developing countries, Cuba faces a variety of challenges when facing climate change, natural disasters and water shortage.

The criminal economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the US Government against Cuba for over half a century has brought about important limitations and obstacles regarding the access to new technologies and products of the water industry and its benefits, as well as to attain higher professional training in this area.
Mr. President,
Cuba does not support water privatization schemes or the market mechanisms promoted by transnational corporations and developed countries as the supposed solution to natural resources shortage, particularly water resources. The sad reality is that natural resources, including water, are the object of purchase and sale falsely regulated in a relentless manner by the market and, in many occasions, under the interests of major transnational companies at the expense of the benefit and the equitable access of society to water.
The equitable access to drinking water and sanitation, without discrimination and with enough quantity and quality, is a fundamental human right and must not be manipulated as another profitable opportunity.
The internationalization of the problem of water makes indispensable that the United Nations turn into the main forum to discuss and reach agreements by consensus on water and sanitation.
Cuba will continue to restlessly champion the right to drinking water and sanitation as an essential human right.
Thank you.

 

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