Floating on a Bed of Rights: Water, Sanitation, and Legal Currents with Catarina de Albuquerque

In this episode, we interview Catarina de Albuquerque, Chief Executive Officer of @SanitationandWaterforAll (SWA), a global partnership which has positioned SWA as a vital contributor to the achievement of #SustainableDevelopmentGoal6.
In a wide-ranging conversation, we spoke of what human rights as a discourse brings to #water and #sanitation, the realities on the ground, and the backdrop in which the General Assembly recognised not only water as a right, but sanitation also in 2010. Together, they are vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, education, and economic productivity of populations.
In this episode, we discussed the need to link the right to water with water injustices, particularly the politics of water governance and equity. If not connected to social movements, the right to water risks being an empty signifier. Commercialisation, privatisation, and the commodification of water have resulted in a situation in which those who can pay for water have it readily, leaving many without affordable, or accessible water sources.
We spoke at length about inequalities, with her outlining issues around access to water and how gender, caste, class, and disability determine access to water. Women often suffer the most from water scarcity, given that the responsibility of collecting water, and managing this scarce resource to meet diverse household needs rests with them.
We also touched upon how the existing legal arena and human rights discourse may not allow for discussions around existential questions, focusing our gaze on narrow, human frames. She also outlined the obligations of states and other actors, including private actors and international organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which have often crippled states in terms of allocating towards social and public goods. In fact, Covid-19 has brought more attention towards water and sanitation, in a good way. But human memory is short, and so it is crucial to hold on to any gains made. Towards the end of the talk, she spoke passionately about building forward from Covid-19, and focusing on what we can all do in our own ways to support social movements and the fight against the climate crisis, in which our water sources are at the greatest risk.
#water #sanitation #UNSDGs #SDG6 #righttowater #podcastsaboutwater #waterpodcasts #interviewpodcasts #darknlightzine #TheSubverse