Uruguay's water referendum

On 31st October 2004, Uruguayans voted to enshrine water as a human right in their constitution, the first country in the world to do so.

The so-called water referendum was organised by an alliance of residents' associations, trade unions, scientists, and environmentalists.

Campaigners on horseback criss-crossed the country, they held community meetings in towns and villages across Uruguay and collected 283,000 signatures, the number required to make the government hold a plebiscite, which they overwhelmingly won.

The campaign began when two local water companies were privatised and residents complained that those who could not afford the fees were cut off from the water supply.

Six years after Uruguay’s referendum, the United Nations General Assembly declared water and sanitation a universal human right and 30 countries have since included the right to water in their constitutions.

Carmen Sosa, a member of the water workers trade union, tells Grace Livingstone how they galvanised the country.

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(Photo: Carmen Sosa. Credit: Grace Livingstone)