The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation A/RES/74/141 Recalling also the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of June 1992 14 and its resolution 66/288 of 27 July 2012, entitled “The future we want”, and emphasizing the critical importance of water and sanitation within the three dimensions of sustainable development, Noting the relevant commitments and initiatives promoting the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation made at recent regional and subregional conferences and meetings, Affirming the importance of continually improving the availability of high quality, accessible, timely and reliable disaggregated data on progress related to safe drinking water and sanitation services as an indispensable means for States to plan for, implement and monitor the progressive realization of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation for all without discrimination, Welcoming the work of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund in the 2019 update published by their Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, 15 and noting the fact that it has an extensive global database and has developed global norms to benchmark progress, while taking into consideration the fact that official figures very often do not fully capture all the dimensions of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Noting the fact that, globally, between 2000 and 2017, according to the Joint Monitoring Programme, the percentage of the population using safely managed drinking water increased from 61 to 71 per cent and the percentage of the population using basic drinking water services decreased from 20 to 19 per cent, and welcoming the fact that the percentage of the population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 28 to 45 per cent and the percentage of the population using basic sanitation services increased from 28 to 29 per cent, Deeply concerned that, almost 10 years after the adoption of resolution 64/292, 785 million people still lack basic drinking water services and 144 million people still collect water directly from surface water sources, representing a combined 11 per cent of the world population, while 2 billion people still lack basic sanitation services and 673 million people still practise open defecation, representing a combined 26 per cent of the world population, Deeply concerned also about the lack of access to adequate water and sanitation services and its dramatic consequences for the overall health situation in humanitarian emergencies and crises, including in times of conflict and natural disaster, and acknowledging that people living in countries affected by armed conflict and natural disasters and in countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, as well as people living in refugee camps, including in refugee host countries, are more likely to lack access to basic drinking water and to basic sanitation than people living in unaffected countries, Deeply concerned further that women and girls often face, especially in humanitarian emergencies and crises, including in times of armed conflict or natural disaster, particular barriers in accessing water and sanitation, as well as menstrual hygiene management, and that they shoulder the main burden of collecting household water and of care responsibilities, including those arising from waterborne diseases, __________________ 14 15 19-22240 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigendum), resolution 1, annex I. World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2017: Special Focus on Inequalities (Geneva, 2019). 3/8