http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10797988

Quote :

"The UN has declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. About 1.5m children under five die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases. The resolution was passed with 122 nations in favour, none against and 41 abstentions. Abstaining countries said the resolution could undermine a process in the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights. The text of the resolution said that 884m people have no access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6bn lack access to basic sanitation. It "declares the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life". It urges the international community to "scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all". Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and [/b]Botswana[/b] were among the countries which abstained from voting./b] [b]China, Russia, Germany, France, Spain and Brazil were among those supporting the resolution. Portuguese lawyer Catarina de Albuquerque is due to report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva next year on countries' obligations related to water and sanitation. US delegate John Sammis said the resolution "falls far short of enjoying the unanimous support of member states and may even undermine the work underway in Geneva". Some countries said the resolution did not clearly define the scope of the new human right and the obligations it entailed, says the BBC's Barbara Plett, at the UN in New York."

So glad the UN declared it a fundamental human right. This will certainly change the world.

And Canada, US, UK and Australia. Really? I can understand Botswana abstaining. Why would a country full of robots care?

And China? Really? Explain to me why I couldn't drink out of the tap when I was there? If you're going to vote for it, I would expect you guys to at least try to clean your tap water, instead of keeping the water bottling industry afloat by forcing your citizens to drink it.

7/29/2010 5:29:35 PM

soap box.... in my chit chat?!?!?!

7/29/2010 5:30:23 PM

i believe this would serve better to be placed in the SB


^beat me to it

[Edited on July 29, 2010 at 5:31 PM. Reason : sves]

7/29/2010 5:30:50 PM

Beginning of the end.

7/29/2010 5:30:52 PM

I don't want it in Soap Box. It's not political enough IMO. It's just some over pretentious UN resolution thing that amounts to nothing more than a waste of time. I just find it funny that they would just now declare clean water a fundamental human right. What was it before it was declared it as such? A luxury?

7/29/2010 5:33:51 PM

Well the UN needs to get busy cleaning up some polluted waters.

7/29/2010 5:34:55 PM

Glenn Beck is spending an entire hour referring to the 41 year old Weather Underground manifesto as if it were relevant to today's world issues

7/29/2010 5:35:30 PM

Quote :

"The Soap Box: politics, social issues, financials. basically anything serious."

7/29/2010 5:35:38 PM

Quote :

"basically anything serious"

I don't see anything serious about this resolution. It's a joke to me.

7/29/2010 6:04:26 PM

finland declared high speed internet access a human right

7/29/2010 6:05:13 PM

^ Better put it in the soap box. It's serious!

7/29/2010 6:06:25 PM

If it is a UN declaration, it is pretty serious

if you think it is a joke, then that is your stance in a debate against it



soap box





I think obamacare is a joke- doesn't make it a Chit Chat kinda subject

[Edited on July 29, 2010 at 6:08 PM. Reason : I'm not trying to troll, just saying that this doesn't belong here]

7/29/2010 6:08:12 PM

United States Declares Catching Rain in Barrels Illegal

7/29/2010 6:09:01 PM

does this mean i don't have to pay a water bill?

i'm on a well, motherfuckers

7/29/2010 6:11:41 PM

It's obviously a right but so is not being farm equipment, and that took a civil war to sort out

[Edited on July 29, 2010 at 6:14 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2010 6:13:54 PM

^x4 Healthcare is political. Clean water... Come on. Hardly.

7/29/2010 7:13:47 PM

Access to clean water and sanitation is not a fundamental human right.

What the fuck do people think rights are anyway? Things being "good", being something "everyone should really want", or being something "that benefits all" doesn't make those things rights. Who decides what "benefits all", anyway?

I truly feel sorry for those people that get suckered into supporting these types of things.... into believing that rights can be granted by man, through the use of technology and authority... into believing that these seemingly nice and pretty "advances" of society represent anything other than unprecedented authority grabs justified by some implicit secular world religion.

Quote :

"the new human right"

[Edited on July 29, 2010 at 7:23 PM. Reason : ]

7/29/2010 7:18:46 PM

I have no opinion on the topic itself


I just think that this thread doesn't belong in here


obviously the original poster doesn't get that because even though he doesn't agree with it, it is still a serious issue facing a huge portion of the world-wide population

[Edited on July 29, 2010 at 7:24 PM. Reason : evewrve]

7/29/2010 7:21:10 PM

UGH I WAS JUST COPYING YOU

now i have to edit too

[Edited on July 29, 2010 at 7:25 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2010 7:22:05 PM

k

7/29/2010 7:24:33 PM

^^^ Where did I say I disagreed with the resolution? I always thought that having clean water was understood to be a necessity for good health. Since when was a resolution needed to establish this???

That's why I think it's funny and stupid that they wasted time debating such a matter...

7/29/2010 7:28:17 PM

lol get over yourself dude

I'm not saying your stance on the subject is right or wrong (I could care less)


I'm saying that this is the UN making a statement about a worldwide problem

I could care less what you or anyone else thinks about it (and I'm sure they could careless about my opinion on the matter)


I'm just saying it is a serious issue (which you seem to grasp)- I really don't see what you are trying to prove here by arguing with me on that point


oh, and for good measure (because it is totally helping everyone else see that you are right in everyone of your posts)

7/29/2010 7:33:16 PM

I'm glad that you are capable of caring less. Please, describe to me how much you could care less.

7/29/2010 7:45:49 PM

Your reading comprehension skills are obviously not your strongest argumentative quality.

I could care less about the UN declaration of potable water etc etc etc

what I do care about is things being posted in the right section and uppity noobs trying to argue with me about their careless postings. Honestly I was just trying to point out a little mis-post on your part but then you had to try and become overly defensive about it. You're wrong. Admit it. Not about your stance on the subject but that the topic as a whole is a pressing world issue. And since you tried to argue this fact with me is the only reason I keep coming back in here to watch you noob all over yourself. In the end I've come to the conclusion that someone who takes the time to read an article like this is not as ignorant as he/she might be coming off as in here- in which case I have taken the troll bait hook line and sinker. At least that is what I am hoping for. Otherwise, well, I really don't care anymore.

My point has been made (more than once). If you want to continue to try and argue a completely unrelated point to me, well then by all means go ahead. I hope you have a nice day, fun weekend, and great rest of life. Ciao.

7/30/2010 12:18:01 AM

Quote :

"United States Declares Catching Rain in Barrels Illegal"

Sadly, this is still true in several western states thanks to draconian 19th century laws.

7/30/2010 12:26:51 AM

First of all, who are you to tell me what section to put this in? I made a conscious decision to put it in Chit Chat. I contemplated putting it in The Soap Box. I really did. But it would just spiral into some stupid discussion involving partisan politics and go completely off topic with irrelevant graphs and stupid childish bickering (kind of like what we're doing. ). So I put it in Chit Chat because it's more laid back and enjoyable.

If you don't like it, then quite frankly, I couldn't careless. (The expression is, "I couldn't careless, you twit, not "I could careless," unless you really are trying to state that you do care about the UN declaration of potable water. Next time you want to argue reading comprehension, make sure you say what you fucking mean ).

You're nothing more than some self-appointed, backseat, moderating troll. Fuck off. I'll post my threads where I deem fit. If a moderator has a problem with it, then as I far as I'm concerned, they can take it up with me directly.

7/30/2010 12:28:29 AM

Who pissed in Biofreak70's cereal?

7/30/2010 12:32:04 AM

clean water is a fundamental human need.

oxygen is a fundamental human need

neither are rights.


Breathing is a right.
Eating food and drinking water are rights, but the procurement of food and water are needs, not rights.

'Rights' outline things you can do, not things in and of themselves.

7/30/2010 12:33:47 AM

^+1

7/30/2010 12:34:49 AM

why we waste billions on that african money laundering ring is beyond me. you want to see poor starving people with no way out, just drive to mountains of kentucky. that shit will scar you

7/30/2010 1:43:57 AM

question rx'ed via pm

Quote :

"...that procreating is also a fundamental human need? "

I wouldn't say it's a fundamental human need, but it's a fundamental biological function, and as animals we have an inherent instinct to procreate.

In the context of this discussion, it's certainly a fundamental human right (although we all wish that people would exercise this right less).

7/30/2010 9:17:52 AM

the UN is useless. Disband this wanna be world government

7/30/2010 9:44:52 AM

^^^^^
+1

rights guarantee you against oppression from other people

rights do NOT guarantee you against oppression from your own biological needs

if a dude is wandering lost in the desert and dies of thirst, were his rights violated?

no...motherfucker was just stupid, or ran out of luck

7/30/2010 12:47:13 PM

I declare porn a fundamental human right. That was easy.

7/30/2010 12:48:28 PM

Quote :

"It's obviously a right but so is not being farm equipment, and that took a civil war to sort out"

this made me lol

7/30/2010 12:53:32 PM