Cur

rent

Is

sues

THE RIGHTS TO SAFE WATER AND TO SANITATION

The human right to water and to sanitation constitutes the right of every individual, without discrimination, to sufficient, safe, acceptable, accessible and affordable wa-ter and sanitation for personal use. The world is still a long way from realizing this right for all: An estimated 2.5 billion people still lack improved sanitation facili-ties, and 768 million people still do not have access to an improved drinking water source.

The right to water and sanitation has now received broad international recognition, including through a 2010 Human Rights Council resolution, a UN Gen-eral Assembly resolution in the same year, and through other means. UNICEF, which is guided in its work by human rights conventions including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of Per-sons with Disabilities (CRPD), welcomes these develop-ments. The organization considers that the international recognition of this right presents a renewed opportunity to emphasize the practical work still to be done to en-

sure that all, including the poorest and most marginal-ized children and families, gain access to and utilize safe water and adequate sanitation. UNICEF also considers that the inclusion of goals for water and sanitation in a post-2015 development framework is essential, and the organization is committed to help bring this about.

UNICEF is fully committed to working with govern-ments and other stakeholders to realize the right to safe drinking water and to adequate sanitation, as an essen-tial part of its mission to support an equity-based ap-proach to human development. The organization has extensive experience and in-country capacity, including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming in over 100 countries, as well as programming in other sec-tors — including health, nutrition, education and child protection — that complement and strengthen WASH efforts. Our work focuses on the operationalization of pledges, resolutions and conventions to produce tan-gible results on the ground. Our aim is to contribute to the progressive realization of universal access to safe and sustainable water and sanitation in our time..■

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

© UNICEF/PAKA2008-0107/Shehzad Noorani

No. 3 • June 2014

1

UNICEF Current Issues No. 3 • June 2014

Global shortfalls in access to safe water and sanita-tion are still very large, but there is renewed hopefor progressThe seriousness and scope of the health risks associated with unsafe water and inadequate sanitation make action on these issues a leading priority for child survival and development. De-spite ongoing progress, 2.5 billion people still lack access to im-proved sanitation1 and 768 million people do not have access to improved drinking water sources.2There are major disparities in access among countries, between urban and rural areas within many countries, and between the rich and the poor.

Diarrhoeal disease, mostly caused by faecal contamination of water supplies or by contact with faeces in a child’s envi-ronment, kills about 700,000 children under age 5 annually. Diarrhoeal diseases also contribute to stunting, which can cause irreversible damage to a child’s physical and mental de-velopment. Waterborne disease, lack of adequate sanitation and the burden of collecting water from distant sources keep children, especially girls, out of school. Girls’ education can be further hindered if school support for menstrual hygiene management3 is lacking.

The international legal basis of the human right to water and sanitation derives from multiple treaties — primarily the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultur-al Rights (ICESCR), and also the CRC, the CEDAW, the CRPD, and the International Convention on the Elimina-tion of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The legally bind-ing nature of the right to water was expressed in General Comment No. 15 (2002) by the UN Committee on Econom-ic, Social and Cultural Rights; the right to water was inferred by the Committee on the basis of Article 11 of the ICESR, the ‘right to an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing and housing’. UN Human Rights Council (HRC)

1 An improved sanitation facility is defined as one that hygienically separates human excreta from human contact. The improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush (to piped sewer system, septic tank, pit latrine), ven-tilated improved pit (VIP) latrine, pit latrine with slab, and composting toilet. Improved sanitation facility is the chosen measure to access to basic sanitation under Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 7c.

2 An improved drinking-water source is defined as one that, by nature of its construction or through active intervention, is protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with faecal matter. These are water sources that are considered likely to provide safe-drinking water. It should be noted, however, that improved sources do not always supply safe water due to the presence of microbial or chemical contamination. Improved drinking water is the chosen measure to access to safe drinking water under Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 7c.

3 Menstrual hygiene management includes safe hygienic materials, knowledge and confidence on how to use them, adequate facilities for washing and means for disposal with privacy and dignity.

Resolution 15/9 of September 2010 also acknowledges the right to water and sanitation, citing all of the above treaties, in the following key statement:

The Human Rights Council…3. Affirms that the human right to safe drinking water and san-itation is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as the right to life and human dignity.

In recognition of the independent existence of this right, the HRC has established a Special Procedure known as the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Other major international instruments affirming the rights to water and sanitation, and calling for their progres-sive implementation by States, include UN General Assembly resolution 64/292 (July 2010); UN Human Rights Council Resolution 18/1 (September 2011); and the Rio+20 Outcome Document (June 2012). The right to water and to sanitation have been incorporated in numerous national constitutions and laws4 — a good practice that UNICEF supports.

UNICEF is guided in its actions by major human rights conventions including the CRC, the CEDAW and the CRPD. The organization has long been committed to the goals of providing safe water and adequate sanitation for all children, families and communities, and promoting healthy hygiene practices. The organization therefore wel-comes the growing international recognition of the right to safe water and to sanitation, which should also help pave the way towards inclusion of goals and targets for water, sanitation and hygiene, founded upon principles of equity, in a post-2015 development framework.

Criteria and principles of the right to water andsanitation The commonly accepted criteria for the effectiveness of water and sanitation services require that they be afford-able; accessible to all (including children, the elderly and persons with disabilities); acceptable (addressing consid-erations arising from culture, religion and privacy require-

4 For example, the right to water has been recognized in the constitutions or national laws of South Africa, Uganda, Costa Rica, Colombia, the Nether-lands, Belgium, and other countries, while the right to sanitation has been similarly recognized in Algeria, Brazil, France, Uruguay, Kenya, Maldives, and elsewhere.

Context and Considerations

2

© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-0964-Noorani

UNICEF Current Issues No. 3 • June 2014

ments); available at home and at work, and in sufficient quantity); and of good quality (meaning that water must be free of harmful contaminants and that services must be safe to use). These criteria apply to water for personal and domestic use — sufficient to sustain life and health and meet basic needs for drinking, cooking and hygiene — and to sanitation. They do not address water for other uses such as agriculture or industry, nor do they imply that water should be free; usually it is not. The provision of water and sanitation services must be accomplished in a participatory, accountable and non-discriminatory manner. UNICEF fully supports and employs these crite-ria in its development cooperation.

Individuals caught up in emergency situations — such as conflict-related humanitarian crises or natural disasters — retain all of their human rights, including to water and sanitation. Emergency preparedness plans and action plans must take this into account; given their status as rights, there are no conditions that can justify a failure to fulfil them. UNICEF is committed to supporting emergency planning and action, including for safe water and adequate sanitation, in accordance with the Core Commitments for Children (CCCs) in humanitarian action. The CCCs constitute UNI-CEF’s central policy on how to uphold the rights of children affected by humanitarian crisis.

Governments have the leading roleThe recognition of the right to water and sanitation means that there is now greater impetus to achieve universal access to safe and clean water and to adequate sanitation. In every country, governments have the leading role in seeking to make these goals a reality, in building consensus and political will, mobilizing support and creating an enabling environ-ment for the provision of a minimum core level of access to water and sanitation for all with equity. Key elements of this enabling environment include:• National legislation, as the essential starting point for all

operationalization of rights. • Appropriate policies establishing national standards.• Strategies, plans of action and programmes that target de-

prived sectors of the population and make clear the ac-countabilities for delivering sustained services.

• Strong accountability and regulatory frameworks among the government, service providers and consumers, to protect consumers’ rights, and to support and facili-tate well-regulated private sector provision of services,

where appropriate. • Funds and sound fiscal management, covering capital costs

of water and sanitation systems and long-term opera-tional costs.

• Availability of appropriate information to all, including the gen-eral population and anyone involved in service delivery.

• Social norms that support healthy sanitation and hygiene practices.

• Implementation capacity (public, private or a mix) to de-liver services, emphasizing opportunities for commu-nity participation.

• Comprehensive monitoring of service and quality levels.

Monitoring and accountability are essentialAmong the elements of the enabling environment, monitor-ing and accountability merit particular attention. Monitoring helps target investments in water and sanitation accurately to meet the diverse needs of different communities. Moni-toring is also fundamental for ensuring sustainable service delivery to marginalized or potentially vulnerable groups or individuals, and for supporting adoption of sanitation and hygiene-friendly social norms. UNICEF assists national and local governments in developing monitoring systems for wa-ter, sanitation and hygiene.

Effective monitoring systems strengthen the account-ability links between governments, service providers and consumers, and enable communities to claim their rights. Accountability is also supported through legal systems and through regulatory and human rights mechanisms.

UNICEF supports realization of the right to water and sanitation through an equity-focused approachThe norms and standards associated with the right to water and sanitation can help guide all phases of human rights-based programming for children and families. Effective advo-cacy is a key link between the international legal framework and the practical implementation of rights for individuals and communities, helping to clarify duties and responsibili-ties of governments, service providers and consumers.

UNICEF places special emphasis on the provision of water and sanitation for the most disadvantaged and marginalized children and women and their communities. The organiza-tion partners with governments and other public and private organizations and serves as an advocate, facilitator and sector coordinator, bringing in quality technical and policy experi-ence to assist in guiding development and emergency water,

Context and Considerations

3

© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-2240-Pirozzi

UNICEF Current Issues No. 3 • June 2014

sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes.The pillars of a balanced WASH programme include

enabling environments, social and behavioural change, and water and sanitation services. Promotion and support for healthy behaviours is particularly important for achiev-ing improvements in sanitation and hygiene; hygiene is essential for realizing the full health, economic and social benefits from safe water and adequate sanitation. WASH programming benefits from complementary initiatives in health, nutrition, education and other sectors.

UNICEF’s equity-focused approach to WASH program-ming includes the following five components.

1. Identification of the most deprivedUNICEF considers that an approach that aims at universal access and prioritizes marginalized and vulnerable groups who do not have access to safe water for essential personal and domestic use, to adequate sanitation, or to both, is right in principle and is also likely to yield the greatest benefits in development gains for resources invested. Keys to identifying the most deprived populations include: • Acquisition of disaggregated data to pinpoint depriva-

tions across criteria including geographic location, sex, wealth, ethnicity, legality of tenure, and others, and to track improvements as they occur.

• Impact analysis of vulnerable groups, which may include women, children, persons in rural or isolated areas, in-digenous communities, minority groups, persons with disabilities or others.

• Equity mapping, supported by data from international, national or local sources.

2. Application of proven, cost-effective and sustainable solutionsA wealth of proven solutions exists for provision of safe wa-ter and adequate sanitation. The optimal choice of solution varies with circumstances and may include supply- led or demand-driven approaches; public, private or mixed service providers; piped water or community water points; and var-ious types of sanitation options. Interim solutions may be needed, and if adopted should form part of a strategic plan leading to universal access and use.

Sustainability is essential, and depends on clear roles and responsibilities among stakeholders, adequate financing for operation and maintenance, functioning supply chains for parts, attention to environmental sustainability, and ef-

fectively addressing issues related to social norms and behaviour change. Community-based water safety plan-ning and monitoring are important for ensuring that safe water is delivered to the community.

Cost assessments should consider total costs of sus-taining services, and bear in mind that safe water and adequate sanitation are indispensable for achieving oth-er core development goals, particularly those related to children’s health and physical wellbeing. A 2012 World Health Organization study suggests that investments in water and sanitation yield between $2-5 in benefits for every $1 invested. 3. Overcoming of bottlenecks and barriers Systematic analysis of supply and demand bottlenecks and barriers to accessing and utilizing services, and identifica-tion of cost-effective solutions to these impediments, are in-dispensable for effectively and equitably realizing the right to water and sanitation for deprived populations. The re-sponse should go beyond analysis and strategies, however, and also address the structural causes of inequitable access.

Supply bottlenecks may exist because providers lack ca-pacity to operate and maintain economically viable ser-vices. Demand barriers may arise from high user costs, or from lack of knowledge about rights and duties with re-gard to water and sanitation, health benefits of safe water and adequate sanitation, or available options.

Service quality, if low, may constitute a bottleneck in it-self. Bottlenecks in the enabling environment — for exam-ple, legislative or regulatory shortcomings — may impede supply by not properly incentivizing and governing pro-viders, or hamper demand by imposing impractical or in-comprehensible requirements. Barriers to access and use of water and sanitation services are often specific to the nature of a deprived group, and will be best understood through detailed data and appropriate follow-up analysis.

4. Mobilization of community partnershipsCommunity interaction can greatly assist planners in un-derstanding barriers to access and how to overcome them, and can provide detailed data through community-level monitoring. Community participation in decision-making and implementation builds demand for better services and helps ensure that service options meet real needs, thus improving cost-effectiveness and sustainability.

Community-level leadership and mobilization is indispens-

4

© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-2240-Pirozzi

Context and Considerations© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-0964-Noorani

able for implementing sanitation solutions through the Com-munity Approaches to Total Sanitation (CATS) framework, which requires collective behaviour changes. (See UNICEF’s policy position on “Investment Priorities for Sanitation in Rural Areas” for further information on this approach.) Communi-ties may also have a direct role in implementing safe water solu-tions, for example, through community water safety planning.

Effective community participation implies providing op-portunities for groups who are expected to benefit from a new or improved service, including children, to raise con-cerns and influence decision-making through transparent processes. Special support may be needed to ensure success-ful participation from potentially excluded groups.

5. Maximizing impacts of available resources Financing for water and sanitation services can come from house-holds themselves (as fees or as direct investment in systems and maintenance), from tax revenues or from international assistance. But if poor families are unable to afford improved services, then no benefit will be achieved. Children will suffer if other essen-tials, such as education, have to be sacrificed to pay water charges. Therefore social protection measures may be necessary for the poorest to access and utilize safe water and sanitation services, and should be child sensitive, taking into account the particular physi-cal and social needs and vulnerabilities of children.

A call to actionIt is important not to let the progress in establishing the right to water and sanitation in international law distract from the real situation on the ground: a child with the right to water and sanitation, but without access to water and no sanita-tion, is not materially better off. The achievement of results for children depends on a sense of urgency and a commit-ment to action from all stakeholders.

UNICEF is committed to supporting these efforts globally through its WASH programmes. Our work focuses on the operationalization of pledges, resolutions and conventions to produce tangible results on the ground. Our aim is to con-tribute to the progressive achievement of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation in our time.■Sources• Albuquerque, C. de. On The Right Track: Good practices in realising the rights

to water and sanitation. Office of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, February 2012.

• Cavallo, G.A. “The Human Right to Water and Sanitation: From Political Commit-ments to Customary Rule?” Pace Int’l L. Rev. Online Companion, Apr. 2012, at 136.

• Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, Right to Water Programme; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Human Rights Programme; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; United Nations Hu-man Settlements Programme. Manual on the Right to Water and Sanitation: A tool to assist policy makers and practitioners develop strategies for implementing the human right to water and sanitation. Geneva: COHRE, 2007.

• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Fact Sheet No. 35: The Right to Water. Geneva: OHCHR, August 2010.

• UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Outcome Document: “The future we want”. UN document A/CONF.216/L.1, 19 June 2012.

• UNDP. Human Development Report 2006. New York: UNDP, 2006. • UNICEF and WHO. Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2012 Update.

New York: UNICEF and WHO, 2012.• UNICEF. Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. New York:

UNICEF, May 2010.• UNICEF. Narrowing the Gaps to Meet the Goals. New York: UNICEF, Septem-

ber 2010.• UNICEF. Pneumonia and diarrhoea: Tackling the deadliest diseases for the

world’s poorest children. New York: UNICEF, June 2012.• UNICEF. UNICEF water, sanitation and hygiene strategies for 2006-2015. UN

ECOSOC document E/ICEF/2006/6. • United Nations General Assembly resolution 64/292. “The human right to wa-

ter and sanitation.” UN document A/RES/64/292, 3 August 2010.• United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 15/9. “Human rights and ac-

cess to safe drinking water and sanitation.” UN document A/HRC/RES/15/9, 6 Oct 2010.

• United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 18/1. “The human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.” UN document A/HRC/RES/18/1, 12 Oct 2011.

• United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation. Frequently Asked Questions (on the human right to water and sanitation). 2010.

• United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation. “How can the human right to safe drinking water affect gover-nance, planning and implementation of rural water supply projects?” (webinar presentation, accessed from www.ohchr.org/srwaterandsanitation).

• WHO. Economic and health effects of increasing coverage of low cost house-hold drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to countries off-track to meet MDG target 10. Geneva: Public Health and the Environment, World Health Organization, 2007.

• WHO. Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation in-terventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2012.

• WHO. Domestic Water Quantity, Service, Level and Health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2003.

Contributions and consultationsPrimary UNICEF contributors to this Current Issues Paper include: Cecilia Scharp, Senior Advisor, WASH Section, Programme Division; Jose Gesti Canuto, Consul-tant, WASH Section, Programme Division; Magnus Andre, Programme Officer, WASH Section, Programme Division.

Other UNICEF experts consulted in the preparation of this position paper include: Sanjay Wijesekera, Associate Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Section, Programme Division; Henk van Norden, Regional Adviser, WASH, UNI-CEF Regional Office for South Asia; Chander Badloe, Regional Adviser, WASH, UNICEF Regional Office for East Asia and the Pacific.

This paper was prepared by the Policy Advocacy and Coordination Unit in UNICEF’s Division of Policy and Strategy.

UNICEF Current Issues No. 3 • June 2014

Sources and Consultations

© UNICEF/BANA2010-01070/Ahsan Khan

5