Water should not be privatized

P1: The right to dignity is inviolable The right to dignity (aka the idea that people, by virtue of their humanity, have an innate right to be valued, respected, and receive ethical treatment from others) is the basis upon which all human rights extend. This is because human rights, by nature, aim to allow people to access a certain quality of life and protect that ability (e.g. you have the right to freedom of thought because being able to express yourself is critical to achieving happiness, and you also have the right to not be arbitrarily detained because that would impede upon your ability to pursue that quality of life). If people are not treated with dignity, then it is impossible for them to ever attain that quality of life. This is because they will not be made to feel valuable as human beings (have a lack of self-worth) and they will be unable to connect meaningfully with others in society. P2: Dignity requires a bare minimum standard of living I would argue that to achieve human dignity, certain key aspects of what it means to be a person need to be provided (assuming the person cannot provide these for himself/herself). This is because people who cannot access these cannot truly access the basic prerequisites for humanity. The two fundamental aspects of all human life are:1) Shelter—every person needs shelter from the environment, whether this is through clothes, a tent, house, etc.2) Resources that satisfy biological needs—this includes things like clean air, water, and food because no one can live without theseP3: Privatization of water violates dignity As you can see, access to clean water is listed underneath resources that satisfy biological needs (for obvious reasons). By privatizing water, water becomes a commodity just like any other: a resource that can be bought and sold. As a result, water will inevitably become something that people can either afford or cannot afford and those who cannot afford it will lose access to it. I think this is a clear violation of people’s inherent right to be able to access vital resources. Privatizing water means that the fact that you are a human being does not entitle you to what is needed to sustain your life. Rather, it is the money you have available that will determine whether or not you can get what everyone requires. Your ability to be able to sustain yourself and live a life should not be based on such an arbitrary, man-made construct such as money or wealth, but should be based on your nature as a human being. P4: Water will become a luxury resource, leading to serious practical harms Large corporations, due to the capital and resources available to them, are the most likely group to come to dominate the water market if it is allowed to be privatized. Corporations are held accountable to share holders instead of to the public. What this means is that they will act to please shareholders rather than the public. More often than not, this means that corporations are profit driven (since, among other pretty clear reasons, profits please shareholders). Water, which has already been established as something that is absolutely vital, will, therefore, have nearly unlimited demand, though only a finite supply. Naturally, corporations will exploit this and charge more than necessary (though not exorbitant amounts and make the mistake Martin Shkreli did) and transform water into a luxury resource (which it should not be). As with any luxury resource, isolated locations will be unable to access water. This is because there is no reason for a corporation that owns water to invest tons of money into developing distribution chains and infrastructure in poorer, rural towns where there are fewer consumers and operation costs are higher when that money could instead be invested into streamlining water distribution chains in major cities where there are tons of consumers with money to spend. This applies not only to more rural locations, but also to poorer nations. Given globalization and the current trend of massive multinational corporations that exert huge influence over the globe, third world nations that are already poor will end up being exploited for the benefit of first world nations. Water will inevitably be shipped from poor nations to richer nations because that’s where the money is and that’s how corporations will be able to maximize profits. So not only will poorer people as a whole be the most impacted by privatization of water (since they will be the least able to pay), but nations as a whole will be held down. All in all, I have shown that there is a clear principle that should not be violated. Additionally, I have highlighted numerous practical harms to people who live in isolated or poorer locations.