Alma Midžić

Acces to water as constitutional right

In 2016 Slovenia amended its constitution to make access to drinking water a human right protected under national law. The Slovenian parliament voted unanimously for this. Now all water resources are a public good managed by the state and nobody can gain ownership over them. The water resources should primarily be used for water supply and therefore cannot be subject to sale. Three years after, this case still drives the attention of the public. In the moment of a wide discussion on climate change and raising awareness on limited resources of fresh water, it is important to understand what these kind of legal instruments means in practice.