Chairs:

• Angelika Siehr angelika.siehr@uni-bielefeld.de
• Lorena Ossio ossio@mpisoc.mpg.de

SPEAKERS

Clémentine-Eleni	Nikolaidis-Lefrançois
Rodolfo	Gutiérrez Silva
Sarbani	Sen

The recognition of the human right to water by the UN General Assembly in 2010 (Resolution 64/292) marked a turning point in international law, emphasizing the urgent need to secure access to safe water in a world of increasing scarcity. Yet, the effectiveness of this right remains contested: Does its absence from most national constitutions represent a legal and practical risk, or can international frameworks and statutory provisions provide sufficient guarantees? This workshop aims to examine the potential and the limits of constitutional recognition of the right to water.

This right is closely linked to human dignity which covers – at least according to the German Federal Constitutional Court – also a minimum subsistence level. Constitutionalization may enhance enforceability, strengthen judicial oversight, and translate international obligations into tangible protections, particularly for groups facing structural inequalities, such as women, children, marginalized rural populations, and indigenous peoples of the Amazon. At the same time, the discussion will critically assess whether robust statutory law, administrative mechanisms, or international obligations could offer comparable safeguards without constitutional entrenchment.

Constitutional protection of the right to water may be more necessary or adequate in some national constitutions than in others, due to the factual situation in terms of water scarcity and economic development but also due certain constitutional patterns. These questions have to be examined in depth. The debate also intersects with the pressures of extractivism and economic development, which often intensify water scarcity, degrade quality, and create asymmetries between short-term growth and long-term sustainability.t autre sujet lié au thème de l’atelier est le bienvenu.