Alternative forum: water activists issue their own declaration in Mexico City

Updated - Friday 07 April 2006

Some 300 water activist organisations from more than 40 countries signed a joint declaration [1] on 19 March 2006 during an alternative event held parallel to the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City. They emphasised the recognition and enforcement of the human right to water delivered by publicly managed utilities, and urged governmental support for the development of public-public partnerships. Labelling the official forum “exclusive and antidemocratic”, the declaration demanded exclusion of water from international free trade agreements. Signatories to the declaration agreed to take up global action between September and October 2006 under the common slogan “The right to water is possible: public participatory management”.

Organised by the Coalition of Mexican Organisations for the Right to Water (COMDA) on 14-19 March 2006, the International Forum in Defence of Water comprised a series of workshops, strategy sessions, and cultural events. The opening panel featured Oscar Olivera (one of the leaders in the Bolivian water movement), Danielle Mitterrand, (president of France Liberté and former First Lady of France), Maude Barlow (head of Council of Canadians), and leaders of the Mexican water movement.

[1] Joint Declaration of the Movements in Defense of Water

Related news: Water Forum: 10,000 protesters in "March in Defense of Water", Mexico City, Source Weekly, 22 Mar 2006

Web site: Transnational Institute - Alternatives to Water Privatisation

Contact: Claudia Campero Arena, COMDA, Mexico, comdainfo@hotmail.com, http://www.comda.org.mx

Source: Diego Cevallos, IPS, 22 Mar 2006 ; World Water Forum Dispatch, Food and Water Watch, 15-19 Mar 2006 ; CEE Bankwatch Network, 22 Mar 2006