International human right to water and environmental protection concerning the Senegal River

Sammanfattning: The environmental regulation of the Senegal River is more progressed than the international law stipulates. With progressed regulation in this thesis means how the situation and circumstances are for the citizens of the current riparian states. The protection of environment and the human rights are on the point of converging and hypothetic the international environmental rules to prevent pollution of freshwater resources could reinforce a human right to water. It could even be the contraire that a human right to water is a reason that a State has to adopt a regulation to protect the environment linked to a resource of freshwater. It seems obvious that 2002 Water Charter theoretically considering the human right to water as the overall purpose for the water resource in the Senegal River. Concerning public participation there is a lack of participation of local people in water management in the river mainly due to the model set up by the OMVS. The model exclude or tackle in a very light way the issue of public participation in decision-making throughout its juridical instruments.