Final: children in the Netherlands may no longer be cut off from drinking water due to landmark court ruling

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June 21, 2024
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For a large group of children in the Netherlands, the future looks brighter: from today, families with children may no longer be cut off from drinking water for good. This practice has been stopped by the court’s ruling in the lawsuit filed by Defence for Children Netherlands and the Dutch Legal Committee for Human Rights (NJCM) against the Dutch state and drinking water companies Dunea and PWN. It was announced today that this ruling is firm.

On 19 June 2024, the cassation period for the parties to go to the Supreme Court expired. This makes the court’s ruling final. The court ruled not only that disconnecting children from water is unlawful, but also that children may no longer be disconnected and that children who have been disconnected must be reconnected. Both the minister and the water companies had to act on this immediately. Now that the cassation period has expired, Defence for Children Netherlands and NJCM will contact the minister and drinking water companies to ask what steps they have taken to comply with the ruling.

The court ruled that it violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the social standard of care that children in the Netherlands can be left without water when disconnected by drinking water companies and that the central government deliberately allows this to happen. “In doing so, the court gave great weight to the best interests of the child, which must be a primary consideration according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is an important development in the legal protection of children,” said Mirjam Blaak, director of Defence for Children Netherlands.

Paying bills

Water is a basic necessity of life. Yet the law allows people to be cut off from it if they cannot pay the bill. Even if children live at the address. Often, these were vulnerable families. Moreover, water disconnections aggravated their vulnerable position: without water, babies can no longer be bottle-fed, cooking and drinking are impossible, showering, washing and washing up are impossible and the toilet cannot be flushed.

The fact that families with children may now no longer be cut off from drinking water does not mean they no longer have to pay for it. The payment obligation does not expire, but water companies will have to collect in a different way. They will no longer be allowed to do so by cutting off children from a basic necessity.

Strategic litigation

Defence for Children Netherlands and NJCM: “This case shows that strategic litigation can actually help to rectify unlawful policies. Our organisations, but also the Children’s Ombudsman, legal experts and a UN rapporteur, had been telling the government and drinking water companies for over a decade that cutting children off from water is bad for their development and contrary to their rights. Despite this, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management did not want to change the law. These proceedings changed this, with lasting and concrete results. Moreover, it shows why the judiciary is an important part of our society: if the government and companies violate children’s rights, there is fortunately still the court that can test the conduct against this right and thus protect them.” Defence for Children Netherlands and NJCM were assisted pro bono in the case by lawyers from PILP and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

Read more about the case here.

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