UN-HABITAT

Privatization of Water in Latin America

The Committee: The UN-Habitat Committee, also known as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, was established in 1978 to act towards sustainable urban and human development and settlement. The organization has addressed issues relating to housing, climate action, resource availability, and crisis prevention since its founding over 45 years ago. Abiding by its mandate, the UN Millennium Declaration, along with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, UN-Habitat has made an impact in over 40 countries across the globe. It receives funding from voluntary contributions from public and private partners and donors including governments, local authorities, organizations, and other UN bodies. The UN-Habitat values impartiality, integrity, accountability, and respect for human rights above all else when working towards goals of the betterment of human and environmental development.

The Topic: Access to safe and clean drinking water has been deemed a basic human right and recognized as the sixth sustainable development goal by the United Nations. However, to access the vital resource, many Latin Americans are faced with a paywall. Clean water in many cities comes at the cost of private organizations incentivized by international bank loans and grants stepping in to manage the sanitation and distribution of local water resources when governments have been unable to. While private organizations have access to specialized resources, personnel, and expertise to process unsafe water to make it safe for consumption, the issues of cutting costs, exploiting the dependency of locals, and monopolizing water are at the forefront and prime motivators of protests and movements across Latin America against the concept of privatization of water resources, as seen in the Bolivian Cochabamba Water War. The privatization of water is a multifaceted issue that has both helped and hurt the well-being of Latin America. In the UN-Habitat committee, delegates will come together to discuss how to address issues concerning water privatization and infrastructure in Latin America while keeping in mind the sustainable development goals 6, clean water and sanitation, and 11, sustainable cities and communities.