Acknowledging that access to water has been declared a human right and that the vital link between access to clean water and sanitation is a precondition to health recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the UN Millennium Declaration (2000),
Concerned that one-third of the world's population live in countries threatened by water shortages and 2.5 billion people lack access to safe drinking water,
Recalling that governments attending the 2002 World Food Summit and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development agreed to commit themselves to reduce by 50% the number of people who lack clean drinking water and proper sanitation by 2015,
Considering that eradication of poverty is dependent on access to adequate natural resources as a basis of economic and social development,
Recognizing that management of water supplies is essential to protect women and their families from the burden of ill-health and poverty associated with dependence on inadequate supplies of clean water and
Aware that in many parts of the world, women are not informed of the manifold and complex issues and the links between environmental hazards and the well-being of people,
THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN Urges all member National Councils:
1. to raise their members' and that of their families' awareness to the problem of Sustainable Development, in particular with regard to the vital necessity of clean water supplies and adequate sanitation,
2. to urge their respective governments to:
2.1. recognize that water is an essential resource to the health and well-being of their citizens,
2.2. protect all water sources, including aquifers, streams and lakes, from contaminations, salinization, sewage, agricultural and industrial by-products and from over-pumping, and provide clean water and sanitation to their inhabitants and publish periodic reports on the quality of the water,
2.3. fulfil their agreed commitments made at the 2002 World Food Summit and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and to ensure that their control over the vital resources of water is not compromised,
2.4. ensure that women have a central role to play in all decision-making bodies concerned with safeguarding water management.
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Source: International Council of Women (ICW-CIF) — 30th General Assembly, Perth, Western Australia, August 31 – September 5, 2003. Resolution No. 5.
