123 Pace diritti umani n. 2 / maggio-agosto 2005 If compared with the stunning silence of only five years ago, awareness on water issues has today dramatically increased among the human rights community, particularly in result of main international events as the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002), the Third World Water Forum (Kyoto, 2003) and the International Year of Freshwater proclaimed by the UN General Assembly (2003). In all those occasions – once again – civil society mobilisation played a major role in pushing forward the human rights perspective on the agenda. It is true that the international human rights system still lacks an explicit and universally agreed definition of the right to water, but significant steps have been taken, both in doctrine and practice. Nowadays widespread and strong moral conviction considers access to water as a fundamental human right, perceiving it as essential and inherent to human nature and dignity. Nevertheless, as clearly stressed by Nor- berto Bobbio, «the fundamental problem concerning human rights today is not so much how to justify them, but how to protect them: this problem is political, not philosophical» 1 . When it comes to water, the most pressing issues are how to translate it from a moral into a legal and enforceable right and how to identify concrete ways for its promotion. A difficult challenge indeed, considering the gloomy picture of the global water crisis: 1.5 billion people still lacking access to a source of clean water, alert of future «water wars», risks related to ecosystem depletion, debates and struggles over privatisation of water services, lame efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the beginning of this year, the UN Decade for Action «Water for Life 2005-2015» has been launched, with the goals of a «greater focus on water-related issues at all levels and on the implementation of water related programmes and * PhD Student at the Department of Political Studies, University of Turin; Laureate of the European Master Degree in Human Rights and Demo- cratisation 2000/2001. 1 N. Bobbio, Sul fondamento dei diritti dell’uomo, in Id., L’età dei diritti, Torino, Einaudi, 1990, p. 16 (our translation). The Human Rights to Water: Recent Positive Steps and the Way Ahead Emanuele Fantini *