Onestini, Maria --- "Human right to water: Argentine cases, human rights – are they enforceable?" [2017] ELECD 1474; in Hollo, J. Erkki (ed), "Water Resource Management and the Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 118

Book Title: Water Resource Management and the Law

Editor(s): Hollo, J. Erkki

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785369827

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: Human right to water: Argentine cases, human rights – are they enforceable?

Author(s): Onestini, Maria

Number of pages: 13

Abstract/Description:

Constitutional environmental rights in Argentina are drivers for defining and enforcing actionable rights in policy and in law regarding human rights vis-à-vis the environment. The Constitution, since its 1994 reform, recognizes environmental rights and directly links them to human development. It establishes the ‘right to a healthy, balanced environment, apt for human development’. This assertion has provided a fertile ground to sustain policy development and rights enforceability regarding the human right to the environment. The human right to water is one of the constructs from which broader human rights is constructed and enforced in the country. However, the ‘right to the environment’ has proven to be an elusive construct. The study will examine how this new rights-based paradigm is being built upon by norms and jurisprudence and how the concept is being operationalized. Cases where the right to water is raised and actioned are used as examples of this enforceability. Keywords: Chapter 4 (Onestini): Constitutional environmental rights, water rights policy, access to drinking water, Ombudsman, environmental information, Argentina