theSun | TUESDAY DECEMBER 16 2008
news without borders
Right to water is a
human right: UN chief
PETALING JAYA: United
Nations General Assembly
president Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann called on coun-
tries to establish the right
to water for their people on
the 60th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights.
In his closing remarks at
the general assembly in New
York last week, Brockmann
said: “We should recognise
that the right to water is a
human right, and water can-
not, therefore, be treated as
a commodity that is bought
and sold. The right to water
should unite us in building
a new model of sustainable
human development.
“The UN should make an
exhaustive, fair and thorough
review of the level of imple-
mentation of the agreements,
covenants, declarations and
action plans in the field of
human rights; states should
allocate more economic
resources and strengthen
their political will in order to
achieve the full and effective
enjoyment of human rights in
all nations,” he added.
Brokmann said the UN
will still view human rights
as a subject of academic
and legal discourse, but must
now, once and for all, convert
these rights into practice as
the universal values that
guide the formulation and
implementation of economic
and social policies.
“This ensures that these
policies will enable all human
beings, regardless of their
social, political, cultural or
ethnic background, their age
or any other condition, to en-
joy the highest standards and
quality of life,” he added.
National board chair of
Food and Water Watch and
newly-appointed senior
adviser on water issues to
Brockmann, Maude Barlow,
said the right to water should
unite all quarters in building
a new model of sustainable
human development.
“This is a wonderful op-
portunity to advance a more
democratic and transparent
method of policy-making
around water at the global
level.
“Without water there
is no life, water is a public
good, and a human right, but
everyday the human right to
water is violated as every
eight seconds a child dies
from drinking dirty water,”
he said.
Barlow said the right to
water means that states
have three key obligations
to protect this right for their
people:
» To respect that right, the
state must refrain from any
action or policy that inter-
feres with the enjoyment of
the human right, and prevent
third parties from interfering
with the enjoyment of the
human right;
» To fulfil that basic right
requires the state to take
measures to ensure the re-
alisation and the protection
of this right; and
» To protect the right to
water, governments must
adopt measures to restrain
practices that deny equal ac-
cess to water, pollute source
water, or unsustainably
extract water resources.
“There can be no human
right to water without clean,
available fresh water in the
first place and we are dan-
gerously in peril, as a planet,
of losing this life and death
resource.
“A right to water covenant
would make state obligations
and violations more visible to
citizens.
“Within a year of ratifica-
tion, states would be expect-
ed to put in place a plan of
action with targets, policies,
indicators, and time frames
to achieve the realisation of
this right,” said Barlow.
Barlow added that states
would have to amend do-
mestic laws to comply with
the new rights, including
constitutional amendments.
Grading of ophthalmology
students fair, says dean
by Maria J. Dass
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA:
Former Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia
(UKM) ophthalmology
department head Prof
MAS Dr Muhaya Mohammad
said the passing of
offers postgraduate students in
four fare ophthalmology is based
options for on the standards required
of them to protect the
economy public.
class travel Muhaya, who is on
pg 24 the board of examiners,
said as an examiner and
postgraduate course
coordinator, she felt the
grading of students is
quite fair.
“At the end of the day,
what determines whether
a student passes or not is
our evaluation of whether
he or she is capable of
serving the public as the
interest of the public is
our paramount concern,”
she said.
Muhaya said
there are some 400
ophthalmologists in the
9
country, about 150 of as local universities
whom are serving at seem to have their
government hospitals. own preferences in
She was commenting assessment.
on a letter of complaint “In an exam where
written by physicians 90% of the students fail,
studying ophthalmology is it not reasonable to
as a specialisation assume that the lecturers
over results of the have failed in their most
ophthalmology (Part 1) important duty – teaching
examination which was the students?” the
held jointly by UKM and complainants said.
Universiti Sains Malaysia The group was asking
(USM) recently, which for their claims to be
they say had a high investigated, to make
failure rate 60% (USM) arrangements for their
and 90% (UKM). examinations to be
The candidates held in the presence of
claimed the results professors from different
were not recorded in countries instead of
a transparent manner only Singapore as is
and said the poor done at present, and
results could reflect for a valuation of the
the insecurities of exam questions by an
the lecturers who do independent lecturer
not want additional to gather a range of
competition to enter the expected questions from
market. students, among other
They called demands.
for international Muhaya said this was
ophthalmology probably the second time
examinations that are that joint examinations
accepted globally to be were held for the two
conducted in the country universities.