Conventions, agreements and other documents

Water, as an essential component of life on which every life depends, is generally regulated in the EU in Articles 191 to 193 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
 
Water is not categorized as a marketable product, but as a limited commodity that must be managed sustainably in its legitimate exploitation and use. The latest regulation in the field of water policy or the right to drinking water in the EU is the revised directive, which provides all EU citizens with water supply for food purposes, and countries have two years to adopt its content into national law.
 
In addition to the current EU water directives, the following are important in the EU:
 
- European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
- European Social Charter,
- European Charter on Water Resources,
- Resolution no. 1693/2009.
 

The following acts and documents are important in the field of international regulation of water policy and rights:
 
- Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949 (Articles 89, 85),
- Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 1949 (Articles 20, 26, 29),
- Additional Protocol no. I to the Geneva Conventions (Article 54),
- Additional Protocol no. II to the Geneva Conventions (Article 5, Article 14),
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966,
- Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment of 1972,
- the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979,
- Protocol on Water and Health to the 1998 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes,
- the Dublin Declaration on Water and Sustainable Development of 1992,
- Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992,
- Convention for the Protection of the Danube River, 1994, and
- Convention for the Protection of the Rhine, 1999,
- UN General Assembly resolution on the human right to water and sanitation (2010, 2015).
 

Important international acts and documents in which water-related rights are indirectly regulated are the following:
 
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Articles 2, 25),
- Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 (Articles 24, 27),
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2006 (Article 28).