Water is a human right!

On July 28th, 2010, through Resolution A/RES/64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.

Recently, the UN has said that the practices of Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) are in violation of human rights. In Detroit, Michigan, water is being shut-off from citizens. The United States need to be a model of human rights, and see to it that Detroit residents and all Americans have access to the basic necessity of water.

In a city where its citizens experience high rates of un/underemployment and a local government has gone through bankruptcy; families and small-business owners have struggled to make ends meet, high-priced water bills are unaffordable to many citizens, and the DWSD had shut off the water supply to the households and small businesses that owe on their bills. However, the DWSD had not shut down the water supply to “Detroit’s high-end golf club, the Red Wing’s hockey arena, the Ford football stadium, and more than half of the city’s commercial and industrial users" (Nichols, Cap Times) that also owe to the sum of $30 million.

The picture here shows Detroiters on May 30th protesting the water shutoffs (Photo: Jessica J. Trevino/Detroit Free Press).

Please sign our petition to President Barack Obama and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder demanding that they restore water to Detroit’s residents and investigate the water shut off issue in Detroit that has been gaining national and international coverage as a human rights violation.