Court: Children can be denied clean water when parents can’t pay

Parents or guardians of a child cannot derive an unconditional right to access drinking water from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court in The Hague made this ruling in a case brought by Defense for Children and the Netherlands Jurists Committee for Human Rights. 

The plaintiffs said that cutting off the water of parents with payment arrears violates the rights of minor children, but the court disagrees.

The primary responsibility for the well-being of children lies with their parents or guardians, the court said. The court stressed that things might be different in certain cases, but that was not the point of this case.

Marielle Balmann of Defense for Children is disappointed by the ruling.

https://nltimes.nl/2022/04/11/court-children-can-denied-clean-water-parents-cant-pay