“But surely you can just buy water at the supermarket?”
Children are no longer allowed to have their drinking water supply cut off. Director and co-initiator Jelle Klaas from non-profit law firm PILP worked with other staff for ten years to achieve that court ruling. “Children were getting caught in the middle. But that can’t happen anymore now.”
No bottle for her baby
“The mother I was representing as a pro bono attorney had a baby and she was already in serious financial trouble when her water got cut off as well. She couldn’t even prepare a bottle for her baby anymore, she explained in court. “But surely you can just buy water at the supermarket?” asked the judge. That really hit me hard. The huge gap between the total panic my client was experiencing and the way the judge saw things, as he just couldn’t imagine what it was like not to have any money.”
“Cases like this inspired us to set up PILP, a law firm that supports communities, movements and activists in their fight for change. Because as an attorney you can keep going to court about that one person or that one situation, but it’s much more efficient to start a case that has an effect on a whole group of people – a case in the ‘general interest’.”
The most vulnerable pay the price
“The drinking water case is a good example of this. No-one wants children in the Netherlands to go without water. But despite this the system allowed this to happen: when parents didn’t pay their water bill, their children paid the price. Even though in most cases these families are already extremely vulnerable. We joined forces with other experts, such as Defence for Children, to try to change this.”
“It takes a lot of time to prepare a case like this. You want the court to focus on the key issue: can this be allowed to happen in the Netherlands? To achieve this you need to get the facts straight on all the other issues. Do children have a right to water? Why are these children having to do without? Support from Adessium means we can lay a solid foundation, so that we end up with a clear ruling, as in this case: children must have access to water.”
Worrying political views
“2024 was a year in which politicians have been expressing views in favor of making it more difficult – or even completely impossible – for civil society organizations to take cases to court. We are very concerned by this development. That’s because this is precisely what enables us, working together with interest groups, to defend the rights of vulnerable people who find it difficult to go to court themselves, such as children. This means Adessium’s support will be even more important in the future.”
In the photo above: Mariska (37), a victim of the childcare benefits scandal in the Netherlands, had so many debts that her water was turned off. Photo: Rob Oostwegel.