WaterAid welcomes UN recognition of right to water and sanitation

 
29 July 2010

The UN General Assembly voted in favour of recognising the right to water and sanitation in a resolution made yesterday in New York¹.
 
Over 120 countries voted for the resolution, which was proposed by Bolivia. States recognised that more than 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion have no basic sanitation.

Diarrhoea, caused by lack of sanitation, is now the biggest killer of children under five in Africa. A rights-based approach is critical to ensuring that the billions of people living without sanitation and the millions without safe water get the access that they need.

Kate Norgrove, Head of Campaigns at WaterAid said: "It is good news that the resolution, recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right, has been passed by a majority vote. It is particularly encouraging to see the crucial reference to sanitation, due to its historic neglect and importance for human development." 
 
"It is however regretful that the vote wasn't passed by consensus, which exposes a distinct lack of political will on this issue. Abstentions illustrate the continuing lack of priority given to sanitation – which is astonishing given that slow progress on sanitation is holding back progress on many of the other Millennium Development Goals."
 
The Independent Expert² on water and sanitation will report to the Human Rights Council in October 2011 on the rights to water and sanitation, where WaterAid will be calling for all states to affirm these rights³.

"We look forward to the continuing work of the Independent Expert," says Norgrove, "which we hope will galvanize abstaining countries to do the work necessary to affirm the rights to water and to sanitation by next October.

"The hard work starts here; now we need this international agreement translated into action on sanitation and water by governments at the national level."
 
Ends 
 
For more information please contact: brendamcilwraith@wateraid.org or call +44(0)20 7793 2245 or +44(0)7887 521 552
 
Kate Norgrove is available for interviews.

Notes to Editor:

1. The right to water is already part of international law, as it is implicitly included in Article 11 (1) of the International Covenent on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which upholds the right to an adequate standard of living. There is considerable precedent for treating the right to sanitation as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living.

2. The Human Rights Council appointed Catarina de Albuquerque as the Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to safe drinking water and sanitation in 2008 and she is due to report to the Human Rights Council on her work in October 2011.

3. WaterAid advocates for the rights to water and sanitation to be affirmed as separate rights.

WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest communities.  We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

• At least 4000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
• 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
• 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
• Just £15 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.