Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 57
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- Inequalities in access to water and sanitation are often due to systemic neglect or exclusion. Courts have successfully adjudicated on discrimination in provision of water, and the requirement to prioritize access by marginalized groups in order to remedy systemic discrimination. In a case in Florida, the court ruled that the municipality could not implement any infrastructure in white majority areas until the African-American majority areas that lacked provision of water were on par with those areas. The European Committee of Social Rights also ordered remedial action including "a positive obligation of authorities to take such [disproportion] into account and respond accordingly" to improve the situation with regard to housing and water for Roma. Violations of the rights to water and sanitation of indigenous peoples is evidence of historic patterns of colonialism and systemic discrimination remaining unaddressed. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights determined that denying an indigenous community access to ancestral lands denied them access to water and sanitation and violated the right to life.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2014
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph number
- 57
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