Water: commodity, common good or right? contradictions in the implementation of public policies connected with the human right to water and sanitation (in Portuguese)

This article aims to contribute to the critical debate on the forms of appropriation of water as a commodity. Through the application of content analysis to the normative texts of the International System of Human Rights, and based on the opposition to the neoliberal model in the critical literature and in the positions of social movements, it is argued that the content of these international norms is in agreement and coherent with the neoliberal water project, because they do not exclude private participation from the control of water supply and sewerage services. Thinking about the contradictions between this normative content and the philosophy of Living in Plenitude (Buen Vivir) reveals a stimulating research agenda for construction of strategies in the struggle for a “new right” that is constituted not just formally, as it has been in Bolivia and Ecuador, but also in everyday practices.