Caring for Thirst: Challenges to Access to Water in Slovakia through a Legal Lens

Abstract

This article provides an assessment of segregated Romani communities’ access to water in Slovakia. It combines philosophical and human rights perspectives and focuses on obstacles communities encounter when pursuing access to safe drinking water throughthe context of law, whether national legislation, EU legislation, or international human rights. This article aims to establish the caseof racial discrimination against Roma in Slovakia through the lens of the environmental justice and especially water precarity. Thiscontribution also explores international standards concerning the right to access water from the perspective of vulnerability, arguingthat specific populations living in precarious situations should have an unconditional right to water.