Placing access to energy services within a human rights framework

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 28, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 389-415

  Bradbrook, Adrian J ^a   Gardam, Judith G ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HUMAN RIGHTS; POVERTY ALLEVIATION; SERVICE PROVISION; SUSTAINABILITY;

EID: 33745028669     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2006.0015     Document Type: Article

References (190)

1. Adrian J. Bradbrook, Energy Law: The Neglected Aspect of Environmental Law, 10 Envtl. & Plan. L.J. 185 (1993).
2. Numerous definitions of sustainable development and related expressions exist in both national legislation and international legal documents. The Brundtland Report, created by the World Commission on Environment and Development, described sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future 8 (1987) [hereinafter Brundtland Report].
3. See also Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Note by the Secretary-General, U.N. GAOR, 42d Sess., Agenda Item 83(e), U.N. Doc. A/42/427 (1987) (transmitting the Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development to the General Assembly).
4. For an illustration of a national definition, see the New Zealand Resource Management Act, § 5(2), available at http:// www.legislation.govt.nz/browse_vw.asp?content-set=pal_statutes: "[S]ustainable management" means managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural wellbeing and for their health and safety while: a. Sustaining the potential of national and physical resources to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations; and b. Safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil, and ecosystems; and c. Avoiding, remedying or integrating any adverse effects of activities on the environment.
5. For a definition of sustainable development in international legal documents, see Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, U.N. GAOR, U.N. Conf. on Environment and Development, Annex 1, principles 1, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. 1) (1992) [hereinafter Rio Declaration].
6. This raises the issue of ethics for sustainable development. See COMEST Sub-Commission on "The Ethics of Energy," Report (2000), available at http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/file_down-load.php/ 160bb789d01fe89900d27bf57e2f09d3Meeting+Energy+Paris+2000.pdf.
7. See also Klaus Bosselmann, Ethical Implications of Energy for Sustainable Development, in The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development ch. 5 (Adrian J. Bradbrook et al. eds., 2005).
8. United Nations Development Programme, World Energy Assessment: Overview 2004 Update 45 (2004) [hereinafter WEA 2004 Update].
9. United Nations Development Programme, World Energy Assessment: Eenergy and the Challenge of Sustainability 3 (2000), available at http:// www.undp.org/seed/eap/activities/wea/-> [hereinafter World Energy Assessment Report];
10. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 59-60.
11. In relation to South Africa and other developing nations, see C. T. Gaunt, Meeting Electrification's Social Objectives in South Africa, and Implications for Developing Countries, 33 Energy Pol'y 1309 (2005);
12. Akanksha Chaurey et al., Electricity Access for Geographically Disadvantaged Rural Communities - Technology and Policy Insights, 32 Energy Pol'y 1693 (2004).
13. Energy is required to lift clean sub-soil water.
14. World Energy Assessment Report, supra note 5, at 3.
15. For further discussion of the fact and consequences of two billion people being without access to modern energy services, see Walt Patterson et al., Towards Sustainable Electricity Policy, in Energy for Sustainable Development: A Policy Agenda 77 (Thomas B. Johansson & Jose Goldemberg eds., 2002) [hereinafter Energy for Sustainable Development];
16. Kui-Nang Mak & Friedrich Soltau, Policy Options, in The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development, supra note 3, ch. 12. Note that a further two billion people are severely under-supplied in energy. See WEHAB Working Group, A Framework for Action on Energy 7 (2002), available at http://www.johannesburg-summit.org/html/documents/summit_docs/ wehab_papers/wehab_energy.pdf [hereinafter WEHAB Working Group Report].
17. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, pt. III.
18. Amulya K. N. Reddy, Energy Technologies and Policies for Rural Development, in Energy for Sustainable Development, supra note 7, at 120. According to Reddy, 100 watts is sufficient to provide safe, clean, and efficient cooking using a gaseous or liquid fuel, such as LPG, and electricity for lighting, fans, a small refrigerator, and a television.
19. Id. A western European living standard requires ten times that amount of energy.
20. See Jose Goldemberg et al., Basic Needs and Much More with One Kilowatt Per Capita, 14 Ambio 190 (1985).
21. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 35-36.
22. For example, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development refers to the need to recognize the possible relationship between the environment and human rights. See Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, ¶ 152, U.N. Doc. A/ Conf. 199/20 (2002), available at http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/636/93/PDF/ N0263693.pdf?OpenElement [hereinafter WSSD Report].
23. See also Philip Alston, Revitalising United Nations Work on Human Rights and Development, 18 Melbourne Univ. L. Rev. 216 (1991) (in relation to development and human rights);
24. Gabrielle Marceau, WTO Settlement and Human Rights, 13 Eur. J. Int'l L. 753, 754 (2002) (in relation to trade and human rights).
25. See Bosselmann, supra note 3, at 77.
26. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 25.
27. WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 7. The WEHAB Working Group report was formed as part of the preparations leading up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002.
28. Brundtland Report, supra note 2.
29. The World Energy Council was founded in 1924 in the United Kingdom and is the foremost global multinational energy organization in the world. For general information about the WEC, see available at http:// www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis.
30. World Energy Assessment Report, supra note 5, at 44.
31. See also Ambuj D. Sagar, Alleviating Energy Poverty for the World's Poor, 33 Energy Pol'y 1367 (2005).
32. For a discussion of the relevance of the access of modern energy services to the provision of clean water, see Reddy, supra note 9, at 126;
33. WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 9.
34. See id. at 9.
35. For a discussion of energy and agriculture, see id. at 10.
36. For a discussion of energy and biodiversity, see Jeffrey A. McNeely, Energy and Biodiversity: Understanding Complex Relationships, in Energy Law and Sustainable Development 31 (Adrian J. Bradbrook & Richard L. Ottinger eds., 2003);
37. WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 10. Note that various forms of bioenergy may be used as a replacement for fossil fuels.
38. See, e.g., Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (RISE), Biomass Energy Systems, available at http://www.rise.org.au/reslab/refiles/ biomass/text.html;
39. World Energy Council, Survey of Energy Resources: Biomass (Other than Wood), available at http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/ reports/ser/biomass/biomass.asp;
40. World Energy Council, New Renewable Energy Resources ch. 5 (1994);
41. United Nations Environment Programme, Green Energy: Biomass Fuels and the Environment (1991);
42. Adrian J. Bradbrook & Alexandra S. Wawryk, Energy, Sustainable Development and Motor Fuels, 16 Envtl. & Plan. L.J. 196 (1999).
43. The link between biodiversity and large-scale hydroelectric development is discussed in Achim Steiner & Lawrence J. M. Haas, The Report of the World Commission on Dams: Some Implications for Energy Law, in Energy Law and Sustainable Development, supra, at 139.
44. See Elisabeth Rehn & Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, UNIFEM, Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts' Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peace-building 129-30 (2002), available at http://www.unifem.org/resources/ item_detail.php?ProductID=17 [hereinafter Women, War and Peace].
45. See also M. I. Howells et al., A Model of Household Energy Services in a Low-Income Rural Village, 33 Energy Pol'y 1833 (2005).
46. World Energy Assessment Report, supra note 5, at 36. It has been estimated that the use in Brazil of LPG for cooking has avoided the deforestation of one million hectares of forest per year.
47. See Reddy, supra note 9, at 125.
48. The link between desertification and energy is recognized in paragraph 41(d) of the WSSD Report. This requires states to "[i]ntegrate measures to prevent and combat desertification as well as to mitigate the effects of drought through relevant policies and programmes, such as... energy." WSSD Report, supra note 11.
49. In Africa, charcoal and firewood constitute 67 percent of primary energy use. See Mak & Soltau, supra note 7, at 214;
50. Ogunlade Davidson and Youba Sokona, A New Sustainable Energy Path for African Development: Think Bigger Act Faster 28 (2002), available at http://www.erc.uct.ac.za/publications/ New%20African%20Energy%20Strategy%202%20Sep%202002.PDF.
51. Thomas B. Johansson & Jose Goldemberg, The Role of Energy in Sustainable Development: Basic Facts and Issues, in Energy for Sustainable Development, supra note 7, at 32.
52. Id. at 30.
53. See also WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 7.
54. Report by the Commission on Sustainable Development on the Ninth Session, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Sust. Dev., 9th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.17/ 2001/19 (2001). The CSD is a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and it reports to that body. The mandate of the CSD is to enhance international cooperation and rationalize the intergovernmental decision-making capacity for the integration of environment and development issues; and to examine the implementation of Agenda 21 at the international, regional, and national levels.
55. See Institutional Arrangements to follow up the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, U.N. GAOR, 47th Sess., Agenda Item 79, U.N. Doc. A/RES/47/191 (1992), available at http://www.un.org/ documents/ga/res/47/a47r191.htm.
56. The need to give priority to rural areas was also emphasized by the WEHAB Working Group Resort, supra note 7, at 11.
57. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 36.
58. See also WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 7.
59. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 36.
60. Id. pt. III.
61. United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted 18 Sept. 2000, G.A. Res. 55/2, U.N. GAOR, 55th Sess., U.N. Doc. A/Res/55/2 (2000).
62. See United Nations Millennium Development Goals, What are the Millennium Development Goals?, available at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals.
63. See United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP Background Paper: Law as an Instrument for Translating the Millennium Development Goals into Action (2005), available at http://www.unep.org/gc/gc23/documents/ MDGSANDRULEOFLAW-REVISED-byBR18.01.05.pdf.
64. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 80.
65. See also Department for International Development (DFID), Energy for the Poor: Underpinning the Millennium Development Goals 7 (2002), available at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/energyforthepoor.pdf.
66. WEA 2004 Upadate, supra note 4, at 18.
67. See also WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 11.
68. For an interesting account of international law developments in this area, see Nicholas A. Robinson, Introduction - A Global Learned Society to Address Earth's Evolution: The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, in Energy Law and Sustainable Development, supra note 20, at 1.
69. See generally Adrian J. Bradbrook, Energy Use and Atmospheric Protection, 3 Australasian J. Nat. Resources L. & Pol'y 25 (1996).
70. International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships (MARPOL), 12 I.L.M. 1319 (1973) (entered into force 2 Oct. 1983), available at http://www.imo.org/Conventions/ contents.asp?doc_id=678&topic_id=258.
71. Note that this Convention was amended by the Protocol Relating to the Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), 17 I.L.M. 546 (1978) before coming into force.
72. See G. Peet, The MARPOL Convention: Implementation and Effectiveness, 7 Int'l J. Estuarine & Coastal L. 277 (1992).
73. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.62/122 (1982),
74. reprinted in 21 I.L.M. 1261 (1982).
75. See, e.g., Alan Boyle, Marine Pollution Under the Law of the Sea Convention, 79 Am. J. Int'l L. 347 (1985);
76. Philip Allott, Power Sharing in Law of the Sea, 77 Am. J. Int'l L. 1 (1983);
77. P. Bernhardt, A Schematic Analysis of Vessel-Source Pollution: Prescriptive and Enforcement Regimes in the Law of the Sea Conference, 20 VA. J. Int'l L. 265 (1979).
78. Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, U.N. Doc. ECE/ HLM.1/R.1 (1979) (entered into force 1 June 1982),
79. reprinted in 18 I.L.M. 1442 (1979).
80. Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions on Their Transboundary Fluxes by at Least 30 Percent, 27 I.L.M. 707 (1988) (entered into force 2 September 1987);
81. Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions, 27 I.L.M. 698 (1988) (entered into force 14 Feb. 1991);
82. Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions, 33 I.L.M. 1540 (1994) (entered into force 14 June 1994).
83. Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, 25 I.L.M. 1370 (1986).
84. Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident of Radiological Emergency, 25 I.L.M. 1377 (1986).
85. International Atomic Energy Agency Convention on Nuclear Safety, 33 I.L.M. 1518 (1994).
86. See generally Peter Cameron et al., Nuclear Energy Law After Chernobyl (1988).
87. Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, adopted 22 Mar. 1985, 26 I.L.M. 1516 (1987).
88. Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, adopted 16 Sep. 1987, 26 I.L.M. 1541 (1987).
89. Brundtland Report, supra note 2, at 168-69.
90. Id. at 240-45.
91. Rio Declaration, supra note 2, cited in Agenda 21: Earths' Action Plan (Nicholas A Robinson ed., 1993), available at http://www.un.org/esa/ sustdev/documents/agenda21/English.
92. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development: Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted 9 May 1992, 1771 U.N.T.S. 108 (entered into force 29 May 1992),
93. reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 849 (1992).
94. Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change: Kyoto Protocol, adopted 10 Dec. 1997, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/1997/L.7/Add.1 (entered into force 16 Feb. 2005),
95. reprinted in 37 I.L.M. 22 (1998).
96. The major provisions are contained in the Energy Charter Treaty, adopted 17 Dec. 1994, 2080 U.N.T.S. 100 (No. 36116), art. 19 (entered into force 16 Apr. 1998) [hereinafter Energy Charter Treaty]; Protocol, arts. 3, 8, 9.
97. The exact figure may vary from country to country, depending on its energy mix. See, e.g., Green Paper on Sustainable Energy Policy for Australia 20 (1996);
98. Robert J. Fowler, International Policy Responses to the Greenhouse Effect and their Implications for Energy Policy in Australia, in Greenhouse and Energy 462 (D. J. Swaine ed., 1990).
99. European Energy Charter Conference: Final Act, Energy Charter Treaty, Decisions and Energy Charter Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects, adopted 17 Dec. 1994, 33 I.L.M. 360 (1995).
100. See The Energy Charter Treaty (Thomas W. Wälde ed., 1996).
101. Energy Charter Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects, 34 I.L.M. 446 (1995).
102. See Adrian J. Bradbrook, Energy Efficiency and the Energy Charter Treaty, 14 Envtl. & Plan. L.J. 327 (1997);
103. Clare Shine, Environmental Protection Under the Energy Charter Treaty, in The Energy Charter Treaty, supra note 55.
104. Energy Charter Treaty, supra note 53, art. 19;
105. Protocol, supra note 53, arts. 3, 5, 8.
106. The MDGs are discussed in supra note 32 and accompanying text.
107. See supra note 27.
108. Mak & Soltau, supra note 7.
109. Report of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Energy and Sustainable Development, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Sust. Dev., 9th Sess., Agenda Item 3, U.N. Doc. E/CN.17/2001/15 (2001).
110. Id. ¶ ¶ 10-11.
111. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 19.
112. WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 7.
113. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 4.
114. For a discussion of supplying electricity to rural areas, see Reddy, supra note 9, at 115. Another problem area is that of supplying squatters' dwellings on the outskirts of large cities in developed countries with electricity supplies.
115. For an interesting discussion of the circumstances surrounding the bringing of electricity to the favelas of Sao Paulo, Brazil, see Patterson et al., supra note 7, at 109.
116. WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 19.
117. See World Energy Council, 18th WEC Congress - Energy Markets: The Challenges of the New Millennium, available at http:// www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/default/tech_papers/ 18th_congress/congress.asp.
118. This occurred after the PrepComs preceding the conference and the draft negotiated text failed to agree on a clear agenda for the conference.
119. See WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 5. The Working Group consisted of representatives of UNDESA (Jarayo Gururaja), UNDP (Susan McDade), and UNIDO (Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl).
120. The other key issues identified in the report are: energy efficiency; renewable energy; advanced fossil-fuel technologies; and energy and transport.
121. WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 16-17.
122. The lack of access to modern energy services is most acute on the African continent. For example, it is estimated that only 10 percent of the population in rural sub-Saharan Africa has such access at present. See WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 17.
123. See WSSD Report, supra note 11.
124. See, e.g., Naomi Klein, The Summit that Couldn't Save Itself, Guardian, 4 Sept. 2002, at 18;
125. Geoffrey Lean & James Palmer, Earth Summit: After Days of Intense Negotiations, Leaders Settle on a Blueprint to Keep the Planet Alive, Independent, 3 Sept. 2002, at 3.
126. These states include the European Union and its member states, Canada, New Zealand, Iceland, and Norway. Since then, the EU has gone further and agreed to increase the share of renewable primary energy from 6 percent in 1995 to 12 percent by 2010, and to increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy resources from 14 percent in 1997 to 22 percent by 2010. The parties to the Latin American and Caribbean Initiative, signed in Sao Paolo in May 2002, agreed to a target of 10 percent renewable energy by 2010. See WEA 2004 Update, supra note 4, at 69.
127. WSSD Report, supra note 11, ¶ ¶ 7-8.
128. The major energy-related provisions are contained therein. Id. ¶ ¶ 8, 19, 20, 39.
129. Id. ¶ 62(j)(l). In relation to small island developing states, the Report states that the world community should "support the availability of adequate, affordable and environmentally sound energy services... by, inter alia, strengthening ongoing and supporting new efforts on energy supply and services."
130. Id. at ¶ 59(a).
131. The other topics in the 2006-2007 thematic cluster are atmosphere/air pollution, industrial development, and climate change. The 2004-2005 thematic cluster consisted of water, sanitation, and human settlements. The access to energy may be indirectly relevant to the debates on these issues.
132. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 19 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976) [hereinafter ICCPR].
133. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 19 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976) [hereinafter ICESCR].
134. For example, as of 24 November 2004, there were 154 states parties to the ICCPR, supra note 81, and 151 states parties to the ICESCR, supra note 82. Moreover, in increasing numbers of domestic legal systems, customary international law enjoys a higher status than treaties. See Bruno Simma & Philip Alston, The Sources of Human Rights Law: Custom, Jus Cogens, and General Principles, 12 Aust. Y.B. Int'l L. 82, 85-88 (1992).
135. See id.
136. See ICESCR, supra note 82, art. 11.
137. See id. art. 12.
138. Mak & Soltau, supra note 7, and accompanying text.
139. See ICESCR, supra note 82, art. 6 & 7.
140. See id. art. 7.
141. See id. art. 13.
142. See Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted 18 Dec. 1979, art. 14(2)(h), G.A. Res. 34/180, art. 14(2)(h), U.N. GAOR 34th Sess., Supp. No. 46, at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46 (1980) (entered into force 3 Sept. 1981),
143. reprinted in 19 I.L.M. 33 (1980).
144. Organization of American States: Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 14 Nov. 1988, 28 I.L.M. 156 (1989), available at http:// www.oas.org/juridico/english/Treaties/a-52.html.
145. WSSD Report, supra note 11, ¶ 18. Paragraph 18 states: We welcome the focus of the Johannesburg Summit on the indivisibility of human dignity and are resolved, through decisions on targets, timestables and partnerships, to speedily increase access to such basic requirements as clean water, sanitation, adequate shelter, energy, health care, food security and the protection of biodiversity.
146. Women, War and Peace, supra note 21, at xii.
147. See id. at x, 7.
148. African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted 27 June 1981, O.A.U. Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 Rev. 5 (entered into force 21 Oct. 1986),
149. reprinted in 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982).
150. African Comm. Hum. & Peoples' Rts., Communication Nos. 25/89, 47/90, 56/91, 100/93, ¶ 47, available at http://www.law.wits.ac.za/ humanrts/africa/comcases/25-89_47-90_56-91_100-93.html.
151. South Africa v. Grootboom & Others 2000 (11) BCLR 1169 (CC) ¶ 37 (S. Afr.), available at http://www.concourt.gov.za/Archimages/ 2798.PDF.
152. See Mak & Soltau, supra note 7, at 216.
153. See The Right to Water, General Comment No. 15, U.N. ESCOR, Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts., 29th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2002/11 (2002) [hereinafter General Comment No. 15].
154. CESCR was set up under ECOSOC Res. 185/17, U.N. Doc. E/1985/85, at 15, and assists ECOSOC in fulfilling its supervisory role under Articles 21 and 22 of the ICESCR, in relation to considering states parties' reports (see ¶ f ECOSOC Res. 185/17).
155. See Report on the Fifth Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, U.N. ESCOR, Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts., 5th Sess., ¶ 44, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1990/8 (1990) (explanation of the aims of the practice of adopting General Comments).
156. See ICESCR, supra note 82, art. 11.
157. Id. art. 11, ¶ 1.
158. Id. art. 12, ¶ 1.
159. Id. art. 50, ¶ 1 (a).
160. See, e.g., Peter Gleick, The Human Right to Water, 1 Water Pol'y 487 (1999);
161. World Health Organization (WHO), The Right to Water (2003).
162. John Scanlon et al., Water as a Human Right? 12 (2004).
163. Id.
164. Id. at vii.
165. See WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 20 ("Action Area 10: to provide the use of renewable energy to facilitate access to safe drinking water"). The authors of Water as a Human Right? emphasize that any right to water must incorporate the requirement of sufficiency of supply and economic accessibility. Scanlon et al., supra note 106, at 2.
166. See, e.g., WSSD Report, supra note 11, ¶ 5 (acknowledging the importance of ethics for sustainable development). It is submitted that these proposed characteristics of the legal right of access to energy services are consistent with ethical principles. For a discussion of the role of ethics in sustainable development, see Bosselmann, supra note 3, at 74. See also Jean Audouze, The Ethics of Energy, Address Before the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, in COMEST Proceedings: Second Session (17-19 Dec. 2001), at 85.
167. See Reddy, supra note 9, at 120.
168. World Energy Assessment Report, supra note 5, at 83.
169. See WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 16-17.
170. See General Comment No. 15, supra note 99, ¶ 3 n.6. <>> See General Comment No. 15, supra note 99, ¶ 3 n.6. See General Comment No. 15, supra note 99 n.6.
171. See also Scanlon et al., supra note 106, at 27.
172. See Women, War and Peace, supra note 21.
173. Id. at 129.
174. Id. at xii, recommendation 20.
175. See, e.g., Adam McBeth, Privatising Human Rights: What Happens to the State's Human Rights Duties When Services are Privatised, 5 Melbourne J. Int'l L. 133 (2004).
176. For an example of the elaboration of a developing socioeconomic right, see General Comment No. 15, supra note 99. See also Scanlon et al., supra note 106, at 27-31.
177. See, e.g., WHO, The Right to Water, supra note 105, at 9-11, 28-36 (detailing the consequences for states and other international actors of a rights-based approach).
178. See generally M. Magdalena Sepulevda, The Nature of Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2000);
179. Core Obligations, Building a Framework for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Audrey Chapman & Sage Russell eds., 2002).
180. The Nature of States Parties Obligations, General Comment No. 3, adopted 13-14 Dec. 1990, U.N. ESCOR, Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts., 5th Sess., 49th & 50th mtg., art. 2, ¶ 1, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1990/8 (1990).
181. See ICESCR, supra note 82, art. 2(1).
182. A state party to the ICESCR is required to take steps to achieve the realization of the rights in the ICESCR "to the maximum of its available resources." Id. art. 2(1).
183. See General Comment No. 3, The Nature of States Parties' Obligations, supra note 121.
184. See, e.g., Rosalyn Higgins, Problems and Process International Law and How We Use It 95-96 (1993).
185. There is a long standing debate as to whether economic, social, and cultural rights can really be regarded as rights at all given the fact that they are alleged to be nonjusticiable in the sense of being unable to be subjected to judicial scrutiny. See, e.g., Philip Alston, The Nature and Scope of States Parties' Obligations under the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 9 Hum. Rts. Q. 156 (1987);
186. Higgins, supra note 125, at 100-02.
187. Patterson et al, supra note 7, at 107-09.
188. The effectiveness of the current reporting system of human rights instruments is regarded by many experts as unsustainable and in need of reform. See, e.g., Effective Implementation of International Instruments on Human Rights, Including Reporting Obligations Under International Instruments on Human Rights, Note by the Secretary-General, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess., Agenda Item 109, U.N. Doc. A/44/668 (1989);
189. Effective functioning of Bodies Established Pursuant to United Nations Human Rights Instruments, Note by the Secretary-General, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 53rd Sess., Agenda Item 15, U.N. Doc. E/CN 4/1997/ 74 (1997).
190. WEHAB identified "access to energy and modern energy services" as a key issue to be addressed by the international community but observed that "[c]urrently there is no international or intergovernmental process to host or facilitate dialogue on priority energy issues." WEHAB Working Group Report, supra note 7, at 15-16.