GATS AND WATER

That this House welcomes the Government's commitment to the UN's pledge to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015; notes that access to water is the most basic of human rights; notes concern that water for human use is included as a proposal under current negotiations of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the WTO, and that once a country commits its water sector to GATS, this commitment is effectively irreversible, irrespective of consequences; further notes that current GATS negotiations could threaten the extension of clean water supply to poorest communities by undermining pro-poor policies such as preference for public or not for profit providers; and calls on the UK Government to persuade EU counterparts to withdraw its proposal to bring water for human use into the GATS negotiations.