A/RES/64/292
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 10 and the Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, 11
9F
10F
Recalling further all previous resolutions of the Human Rights Council on
human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation, including Council
resolutions 7/22 of 28 March 2008 12 and 12/8 of 1 October 2009, 13 related to the
human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, general comment
No. 15 (2002) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, on the
right to water (articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights) 14 and the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights on the scope and content of the relevant human rights obligations
related to equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation under international
human rights instruments, 15 as well as the report of the independent expert on the
issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and
sanitation, 16
1F
12F
13F
14F
15F
Deeply concerned that approximately 884 million people lack access to safe
drinking water and that more than 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation,
and alarmed that approximately 1.5 million children under 5 years of age die and
443 million school days are lost each year as a result of water- and sanitation-related
diseases,
Acknowledging the importance of equitable access to safe and clean drinking
water and sanitation as an integral component of the realization of all human rights,
Reaffirming the responsibility of States for the promotion and protection of all
human rights, which are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, and
must be treated globally, in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with
the same emphasis,
Bearing in mind the commitment made by the international community to fully
achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and stressing, in that context, the
resolve of Heads of State and Government, as expressed in the United Nations
Millennium Declaration, 17 to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who are
unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and, as agreed in the Plan of
Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation”), 18 to halve the proportion of people without access to
basic sanitation,
16F
17F
1.
Recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a
human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights;
_______________
10
Resolution 61/106, annex I.
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973.
12
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/63/53),
chap. II.
13
See A/HRC/12/50 and Corr.1, part one, chap. I.
14
See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2003, Supplement No. 2 (E/2003/22),
annex IV.
15
A/HRC/6/3.
16
A/HRC/12/24.
17
See resolution 55/2.
18
See Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August–4 September
2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 2, annex.
11
2