The state duty to protect from businessrelated human rights violations in water and sanitation services: regulatory and bits implications
| Author | Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky - Liber Martín - Juan Justo |
| Position | PhD, UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights - PhD, Researcher at t National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, CONICET - Administrative Law Professor. Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina |
| Pages | 63-116 |
Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. Bogotá (Colombia) N° 26: 63-116, enero - junio de 2015
THE STATE DUTY TO PROTECT FROM BUSINESS-
RELATED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
IN WATER AND SANITATION SERVICES:
REGULATORY AND BITS IMPLICATIONS*
LA OBLIGACIÓN ESTATAL DE PROTEGER
EL DERECHO HUMANO AL AGUA FRENTE A
VIOLACIONES COMETIDAS POR EMPRESAS EN
SERVICIOS DE AGUA POTABLE Y SANEAMIENTO.
IMPLICANCIAS REGULATORIAS Y SOBRE LOS
TRATADOS BILATERALES DE INVERSIÓN (TBI)
Juan Pablo bohoslavsky**
liber Martín***
Juan Justo****
Reception date: February 19th, 2015
Acceptance date: May 19th, 2015
Availale online: June 30th, 2015
to cite this article / Para citar este artículo
Bohoslavsky, Juan Pablo; Mart ín, Liber & Justo, Jua n, The State Duty
to Protect from Busi ness-Relate d Human Rights Vi olations in Water and
Sanitation S ervices: Regulatory and BITs Implica tions, 26 International
Law, Revista Colo mbiana de D erecho Interna cional, 63-116 (2015). http://
dx.doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.il15-26.sdpb
doi:10.11144/Javeriana.i l15-26.sdpb
ISS N:1692 -8156
* This pap er is built on a s eries of re search pap ers writ ten by the author s between 2 009-2013
for the United Nati ons Economic Comm ission for Latin Amer ica and the Caribb ean,
ECLAC. The views an d conclusions r eected i n this paper a re solely thos e of the authors
and are in no way i ntended to reect t he views of any of the in stitutions with wh ich the
authors are af liate d. An earli er draft of th is articl e was prese nted in the Workshop
on Internat ional Law. Natural Resour ces and Sustain able Development. Univer sity of
Warwick, Se ptember 11-13, 2013 and in the European Int ernational St udies Asso ciation
Young Researcher s’ Workshop, The State Dut y to Protect from Bus iness-Rel ated Human
Rights Violati ons: Tracking the E mergence, D iffusion an d Impact of an In ternation al Norm,
Warsaw, Septembe r 17, 2013.
** Juan Pablo Bohosl avsky (PhD, UN Indepe ndent Expert on Foreign D ebt and Human
Rights. Contact: juanpablobohos@gmail.com
*** Liber Mart ín (PhD, Resea rcher at t National Counci l of Scientic and Techni cal Re-
search, CON ICET. Professor Universit y of Cuyo/Univer sity of Mendoza . Visiting Sc holar
University of C alifornia at Be rkeley. Contact: libe rmartin@ hotmail.com
**** Juan Justo (Admin istrative Law Pro fessor. Universida d Nacional del Com ahue, Argen-
tina). Contact: juanjusto@speedy.com.ar
Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. Bogotá (Colombia) N° 26: 63-116, enero - junio de 2015
64 Juan Pablo bohoslavsky - liber Martín - Juan Justo
abstract
The Human Rig ht to Water and Sanitat ion —HRWS— has call ed prim ary
attention sin ce General Com ment No. 15 (GC 15) —issued i n 2002 by the
UN Comm ittee on Economic , Social, and Cult ural Rights, CESCR— in-
terpret ed articles 11 and 12 of the Internat ional Covenant on Economic ,
Social, an d Cultural Rig hts (ICESCR). Since then, much ha s been writ ten
on this huma n right, but very littl e on the existing li nkage between it and
private cor porations prov iding publ ic water and s anitation s ervi ces (WSS),
and even less on t he regulatory and Bilat eral Investment Treaties (BITs)
implicat ions of the state’s duty to protect th is right.
This ar ticle will there fore study the state’s duty to protect fro m business-
related hum an rights vi olations in the sp ecic e ld of WSS from two
interrel ated persp ectives. O n one hand, the dom estic regu latory front,
which rais es question s such as: Should reg ulation of pri vate water and
sanitatio n companies be bas ed on human rights s tandards? If so, to what
extent? What ar e the concrete reg ulatory impl ications of the two prev ious
response s? Has existing ca se law outlined m inimum regu latory standa rds
based on int ernational human r ights norms?
On the other ha nd, in ter ms of inte rnation al liabi lity, the followi ng questions
are cruc ial: How should we interpret BITs that prot ect foreign compan ies
providing wate r and sanitation in l ight of the state’s duty to protect from
busines s-related hu man right s violations? How to re concile t he state’s BITs
commit ments with its obl igations under hu man rights tr eaties in WSS? Do
we need to rec oncile them at all?
Keywords : human right to water; state duty t o protect; busi ness-rel ated
human rig hts; BITs
Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. Bogotá (Colombia) N° 26: 63-116, enero - junio de 2015
65
The STaTe DuTy To ProTecT from BuSineSS-relaTeD human
righTS ViolaTionS in WaTer anD SaniTaTion SerViceS
Resumen
El derecho hu mano al agua ha sido objeto primordial de ate nción desde l a
Observació n General nú mero 15 (2002), que luego de mucho debate fue
raticada por Resolución d e la Asamblea G eneral de la O rganización de
Naciones Unid as, del 28 de julio de 2010 . Mucho se ha escrito en general y
de manera su percial so bre este derecho pero m uy poco sobre las pa rticulares
conexiones q ue existen con las empresas privadas prestadoras d e servicios
públicos de ag ua potable y sa neami ento, su regula ción intern a e interna cional .
El artículo a naliza la obligació n estatal de proteger de viol aciones cometi-
das por empres as, en el especíco ámb ito de los servicios de agua pota ble y
saneami ento desde dos frentes. Por u n lado, el plano regulatori o interno, es
decir: ¿en qué med ida la regulación estatal d e una empresa de agua p rivada
es y/o debe estar ba sada en norm as de derechos humanos ? ¿Cuáles son la s
implicacio nes normativa s de esa respu esta? ¿Qué tipo d e regulacion es implica
el deber de protecci ón? ¿Ha delineado la juri sprudencia está ndares mínimos
de prestación fu ndados en no rmas intern acionales de d erechos hum anos?
En segund o lugar y en el plano de la respo nsabilidad interna cional ¿De qué
forma deben i nterpretase los tratados bilaterales d e inversión —TBI— que
protegen a las empres as prestadoras de servicios públicos de agua pota ble
y saneami ento como inversore s con relación al de ber de protección esta tal
basado en n ormas de de rechos hum anos? ¿Cóm o compatibil izar, en denit iva,
los compromis os asumidos en los TBI co n las obligaciones ema nadas de los
tratados de derec hos humanos en el e specíco ámbito de la p restación de los
servicios de ag ua potable y saneamie nto?
Palabras clave: Derecho humano al ag ua; obligación de proteger; derecho
humano s vinculados a empresa s; TBI
suMMary
introduction.- i. the hrWs fraMeWork. huMan rights treaties.- ii. the
duty to Protect the hrWs. background.- iii. regulatory iMPlications
of the duty to Protect h rWs.- A. Establi shing the duty to p rotect the
HRWS in WSS.- B . The mean s to comply the duty to protect the HRWS
when WSS are provide d by third parties.- iv. bits iMPlications of the duty
to Protect hrWs.- A. The BI Ts regime.- B. The hum an rights system and
other internati onal commitm ents of the state.- C. The i nterpretation of BITs
protecting foreign comp anies providing WSS in light of the state’s duty to
protect from busin ess-related hu man rights violati ons.- 1. Fair and equitable
treatment vs . stabili zation clause s.- 2. Expropriatio ns, spec ial burden, and
discr imination.- 3. Reconc iling the stat e BITs commitments wit h the duty
to protect the H RWS in the sp ecic eld of water a nd sanitation se rvices.-
concluding reMarks.- bibliograPhy.
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