Chapter X.14: How international water law connects to environmental law and human rights

Abstract

International water law no longer exists in its own realm with states as discretionary actors. Instead, relevant law increasingly conceptualises states as functional actors, taking on duties in the interest of individuals and groups located in their territory. This development is due to the interaction between international water law and environmental law and human rights law. This chapter illustrates the development of states’ duties and analyses how the roles of various types of actors – individuals and groups, states and corporations – involved in this process have changed or are changing. More recently, states are increasingly conceptualised as cosmopolitan actors, taking on duties that also encompass the activities of corporate actors for which they are the home state and the rights of individuals and groups located in the territory of other states. This contribution, based on doctrinal legal analysis, illustrates where the relevant law stands.