MADRE Statements

Clean Water is a Human Right

Posted on: Monday, August 15, 2011

Keywords: Environmental Justice, Water Rights, Nicaragua, Gaza, Kenya

MADRE believes that access to clean, safe water is a basic human right and we are on the front lines of the movement to secure clean water rights for all. Learn more about our involvement in demanding access to water by reading some of our publications and learning more about our projects worldwide.

On the Issue

Why Water Rights Are Women’s Rights
Around the world, it is women and girls who are responsible for providing water to households. That division of labor makes water a critical women's human rights concern.

The Water Crisis in Gaza
The shortage of clean water in Gaza has reached crisis levels. More than 90% is contaminated with microorganisms and toxins that endanger people’s lives and cause needless sickness and suffering, especially to babies and children.

Water for All
Turning on the kitchen tap or running a bath is usually an effortless decision. Yet, when we flush the toilet, we use as much water as most people in Kenya use in an entire day.

Women and Water
Though water scarcity is threatening ecosystems on every continent, the biggest problem is not that the world’s water supply is literally running out, but that water is used unsustainably and unequally.

MADRE Project Updates

Expanding Access to Safe Water for Indigenous Women in Kenya
Ongoing drought in Kenya has put millions of people at risk of hunger and starvation. For women who play a primary role in securing clean water for their families, these severe droughts create new burdens.

Engineering a Solution for Clean Water in Nicaragua
We have heard women in the communities of our partner organizations speak of their worries that their children will fall sick because of the water-borne illnesses that peak during hurricane season when flooding carries raw sewage and other contaminants into their water supply.

Looking for Clean Water in Occupied Gaza
In Gaza City, many houses have running water only once a week, and in some of the poorest communities, families do not have taps in or near their homes. As a result, women and their families are left without clean drinking water.

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