Sanitation and Human Rights

Water and sanitation as a derived right

The right to sanitation is implicit in several covenants and conventions adopted by the United Nations since the Second World War ended in the mid-1940s:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, Article 25(1):

‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control’.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16th December 1966, Article 11(1):

‘The States Parties to the present Covenant recognise the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing, housing, and the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realisation of this right, recognising to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent’.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16th December 1966, Articles 12(1,2):

1. ‘The States Parties to the present Covenant recognise the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve full realisation of this right shall include those necessary for:
(b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;
(c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases.’
Although enshrined as an implicit right, the derived nature of the right inevitably meant that governments around the world had fewer moral, political and economic compulsions on them to make sanitation a reality for their citizens.
Water and sanitation as an explicit right

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted on 18th December 1979 and enforced from 3rd September 1981 explicitly stated the right to water and sanitation for the first time. According to Article 14 (2):

‘State Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right:
(h) To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications.’

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 20th November 1989 and enforced from 2nd September 1990 reiterated water and sanitation as an explicit right in Article 24 (1,2):

1. States Parties recognise the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and in particular, shall take appropriate measures:

a) to diminish infant and child mortality;
b) to combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through among other things, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
c) to ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents.

More recently, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights took the unprecedented step of agreeing on a “General Comment” on water as a human right by declaring the following:

“Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.”

A “General Comment” is an interpretation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The countries that have ratified the Covenant will now be compelled to progressively ensure that everyone has access to safe and secure drinking water and sanitation facilities – equitably and without discrimination.
Handbook on Community Sanitation Systems -[ C.eldoc1/d70d/community-san-sys.doc]

Sanitation As Human Rights

Giving substance to this framework is now the primary public policy challenge. A central feature of a rights-based approach is that it is premised on the principles of equality, universality and freedom from discrimination. Exclusion from water and sanitation services on the basis of poverty, ability to pay, group membership or place of habitation is a violation of the human right to water. If water is a human right that governments have a duty to uphold, the corollary is that many of the world’s governments, developed as well as developing, are falling far short of their obligations. They are violating the human rights of their citizens on a large scale.

At a national level adherence to a rightsbased approach requires the development of laws, policies, procedures and institutions that lead progressively to realization of the right to water.

The provision of at least 20 litres of water a day to each person should be seen as the minimal goal for compliance with the right to water, with policies setting out nationally owned strategies for meeting this target and benchmarks for measuring progress. Mechanisms for redress and government accountability are also critical.
Human Development Report 2006: Beyond scarcity:Power, poverty and the global water crisis
[C.eldoc1/q12_/HDR2006_full_report.pdf]

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states:
“Everyone the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food clothing, housing…”

Article 12 of the International Convention on Economics, social and cultural Rights (1956) states:
“States Parties to present Convent recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The steps to be taken…to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for…the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases”

Article 24 of the Convention of rights of the children (1989) provides that a child has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health.
Vision 21, [R.E26.29]