O direito humano à água na UNASUL : reconhecimento, tratamento normativo, garantias e desafios

Abstract

This research proposes, based on the recognition of the right to water as a human right, inseparable from the right to life and other human rights, by the General Assembly of the United Nations, to investigate the possibility of its effectiveness and presence in countries that are part of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Therefore, based on the understanding of the debates that involves the access to water as a human right, including its relationship with the environment, a comparison of the legislative reality of water in UNASUR was made. Thus, it was firstly elaborated a reconstitution of the emergence of UNASUR in relation to its location, composition, objectives and internal functioning analyzing the Union official documents, its councils and also defending that the Union represents the own maturity of South America in the construction of a multipolar world. This primarily part also approach the environmental issue, contemplating how UNASUR and its members understand the environment. In the second part, it is made a historical description about the incorporation of the access to water as a human right. Thirdly, it is presented an analysis of the legislation of UNASUR member countries related to the human right to water, seeking to demonstrate whether such countries explicitly recognize in their legal systems this fundamental human right. Based upon these previous stages, it is discussed the current status of the human right to water recognition in UNASUR, the possible solutions to the obstacles that obstruct the realization and effectuation of this right, developing considerations in the use of new methodologies for the application of the human right to water. Is was verified that UNASUR recognizes the importance of the environment in its Constitutive Treaty, but it still lacks the presence of an internal body that is responsible for this cause. Is was found that although the human right to water is a basic right and that all States have an obligation to guarantee this right for their populations, many of the UNASUR member do not do so, within the exception of Bolivia, Ecuador and Uruguay, which explicitly recognize the human right to water in their respective Constitutions. In other Member States it is possible to indirectly measure this right in their constitutional norms, using the relation of this human right with other rights. It is concluded that it is fundamental that the UNASUR member states explicitly recognize the human right to water, not only for reasons based on the economic development of the region, but also for the guarantee of access to water for the population against a possible palpable scenario of scarcity of this resource.