PRESS RELEASE

FRANCE LIBERTES –DANIELLE MITTERRAND FOUNDATION

5^th WORLD WATER FORUM: SAY NO TO A “WATER DAVOS”!

The opening of the 5^th « World Water Forum » in Istanbul is just a few days away and many non governmental organisations who are preoccupied about water’s future are focused upon this event. France Libertés had decided not to take part in this gathering.

As with the four precedent events, the Istanbul meeting is organised by the World Water Council, an institution controlled by Veolia and Suez, whose president is none other than the president of the Societe des Eaux de Marseille (which half belongs to Véolia and half to Suez…) The WWC has a fundamentally neo-liberal ideology which hardly enables it to meet the vital needs of humanity and the challenges provoked by the worldwide water crisis. Have we forgotten that 1.5 billion people in the world still don’t have access to drinking water and that 2.5 billion people are deprived of sanitation? In view of the type of system currently governing us, it isn’t surprising that such an institution exists, but it should at least present itself for what it is – an organisation of water merchants offering their wares at a trade fair.

At the Mexico Forum in 2006, we joined forces with some impressive social movements that mobilised to defend the right to water. This action enabled us to establish a link with the WWC and to mark our resistance to commercial exploitation of this vital resource for profit-making ends. The declaration that resulted from this “counter forum” was based on the following fundamental principles:

• Water in all its forms is a global common and access to water is an inalienable human right for all living beings;
• Every human being should have access to enough clean water;
• Water management should remain in the public sphere.

This Joint Declaration of the Movements in Defence of Water also asserted « our direct opposition to all World Water Fora as meetings of large trans-national corporations, international financial institutions (the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, etc.) and of the world’s powerful governments, for being exclusive and antidemocratic» since they « ignore the demands and the real needs of the people ».

Today, we still stand firmly by this position and thus refuse to go to Istanbul. We understand that some of our partners will be there. They have the right to choose, which we respect. However, we think that it is no longer a question of making counter forums. Now we must call for the setting up of ANOTHER body, free from any commercial concerns and under the aegis of the United Nations, which would guarantee the transparency of civil society participation.

Press contact:

Anna K. Grossman

+33 (0)1 53 25 10 54

+33 (0)6 74 29 78 52

anna.grossman@france-libertes.fr