Palestinians are denied sufficient, clean and affordable water for household use and agriculture © Iyad El Baba/UNICEF-oPt
By Ashfaq Khalfan, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Policy Coordinator, Demand Dignity and ESCR Programme
On 30 September, the UN Human Rights Council affirmed for the first time that the human right to water and sanitation is legally binding.
The Council stated that the right to water and sanitation is derived from the right to adequate standard of living, which is recognised in several international treaties. These include the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which 160 States are party, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has reached nearly universal ratification.
In 2002, the committee of experts appointed by the UN to monitor the ICESCR stated that this treaty implicitly includes the right to water. However, some states, such as Canada and the US, vocally rejected this right and blocked efforts by states to recognise these rights at the international level.
Since then, civil society groups in many parts of the world have been campaigning for recognition of the right to water and sanitation. Failing to recognise these rights is unconscionable.
An estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five die due to diarrhoea. 88% of these deaths are due to lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Many people living in slums and informal settlements are denied, or have limited access to, water and sanitation. Some are left with no option but to defecate in the open, or into a bucket or a plastic bag. Lack of access to water and sanitation affects women and girls far worse than men, thereby increasing gender inequality.
In July 2010, the UN General Assembly recognised the right to water and sanitation. The recent Human Rights Council resolution has now taken a further step by specifying that this right is legally binding by recognising that it is derived from a right recognised in international treaties.
Amnesty International, together with other civil society groups, actively lobbied governments, and this helped to overcome opposition to recognising this right. Shortly before the Human Rights Council resolution was adopted, the US decided to shift its position and accepted the right to water and sanitation.
In total, 178 countries from all regions of the world have now recognised the right to water and sanitation at least once in an international resolution or declaration. All countries – except Canada, Israel and Tonga – have now recognised the right to water at least once. Ten countries have recognised the right to water but have not as yet recognised the right to sanitation – Albania, Austria, Belize, Czech Republic, Malta, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the UK.
The work is not yet complete at the international level. The UK disassociated itself from the resolution, saying that it would not recognise the right to sanitation. Opposition to recognition of this right by some countries may block efforts by the UN to take practical steps to promote it.
The Council’s resolution helps those denied the right to water and sanitation to hold governments to account. It is clearer now that governments are required by international law to ensure that everyone can enjoy this right.
For our part, civil society and those at risk need to actively claim this right. I’ll provide two examples from Amnesty International’s Demand Dignity Campaign that show the work that lies ahead. Amnesty International is working with community groups and NGOs in Nairobi’s informal settlements who are demanding that the government take steps to ensure access to water and clean toilets. Amnesty International’s research showed that the failure of the Kenyan government to incorporate slums in urban plans has resulted in poor access to services like sanitation, which hits women especially hard. Effectively, they have to choose between not using a toilet at night or going to a public toilet and risking sexual violence.
Amnesty International is also campaigning against Israel’s restrictions on Palestinians’ access to water, which deny Palestinians sufficient, clean and affordable water for household use and agriculture. It is campaigning against the blockade on Gaza which has led to a deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza. It is also supporting the rights of Palestinians in West Bank hamlets like Humsa and Hadidiya hamlets who are facing forced evictions and denied the right to water.
For more information, see Amnesty International’s public statement and briefing note on the resolution. Please note that while the Human Rights Council appears to be treating water and sanitation as a single combined right, Amnesty International’s view is that water and sanitation are two linked human rights.
The Decision of the UN Human Right Council is very appropriate. It will certainly help to the billions of vulnerable people who don’t have access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation services in all over the world. The next steep should be affirmation and recognition of the right to water not only for human being but also for animals and in broader sense for the ecosystems that their survival depends on water.
Thank you for this good news.
The importance of water unquestioned; I understand it’s one of the most cost effective ways of helping the very poor. But is it really worthwhile getting a UN declaration about it? While in some cases the government has funds, all to often they don’t. And what’s the point of putting in laws that will “allow governments to be held to account” in situations where there’s no rule of law or separation of powers? A minute’s reflection ought to reveal that the UN and AI can’t reliably get most countries to respect very simple and “cheap” rights such as no prisoners of conscience. I can’t help thinking our movement’s enthusiasm for UN Declarations, treaties and International Law shows a naïf Western centred view point about the realities of government. I’d suggest readers would be better off raising funds for the many aid agencies who are well practiced in drilling wells in poor and isolated places
As long as water is made a “Rights” issue, we will have problems. Water is a commodity. If people can afford clothing, cell phones, computers, CDs, more children, car, etc….then they should also pay for water treatment and sanitation. Water is a commodity.
Its interesting/surprising that Michael of Australia accuses AI is accused of a Western-centred attitude on international law. The demand for the recognition of the right to water and sanitation has been led from the South, with countries such as Bolivia playing a leading role.
On the subject of Aid agencies, drilling wells is of course an important role, but even as Micheal can surely admit, it’s not a sustainable answer to water ressources management. Aid agencies can’t prevent governments from destroying wells. They can’t prevent pollution of drinking sources by companies. They can’t establish the piped networks needed to supply the millions of people living in slums.
The suggestion that holding governments accountable is an ineffective way of securing water for people in developing countries is completely contrary to the experience of many, of securing acess to , education, health etc.. And let’s not get started on myths that civil and political rights as ’simple’ or ‘cheap’ rights. Liberty is expensive (think of the cost of legal aid or the costs of maintaining a trained police force).