ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the latter condition as posing the most vital challenge facing the welfare of the people of the Mediterranean region and indeed the entire world. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has tried to address such considerations in its General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water. By 2025, 1,800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions. The 'right of thirst' can claim an ancient history extending back to the original sources of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions. A further statement of the Sunnah tradition is that 'no one can refuse surplus water without sinning against Allah and against man'. The Sanitary Movement has a double relevance to the question of the human right to water. The Sanitary Movement was based on a sense of governmental obligation rather than on any ideals of social or human rights.
