Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 48
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- Ensuring participation proves to be a consistent challenge, and lack of participation has negative impacts on sustainability. Such challenges are exacerbated in times of crisis, where the State seeks to avoid the financial costs of participation and is under time pressure to adopt austerity-related measures. However, States are never exempted from their human rights obligations, including the duty to give people the opportunity to pronounce themselves on issues that concern them. Where meaningful participation does not occur, States often misunderstand the barriers to access, and fail to pinpoint how these barriers might be overcome. Lack of participatory processes might result in choices which might simply be unacceptable to the people they aim to serve, hence condemning the said solutions to unsustainability, as they may not be used at all or people might revert to old habits after using the new services for a while. During her mission to Tuvalu the Special Rapporteur witnessed a change of perception among the general public concerning previously rejected eco-sanitation solutions, attributable to a new participatory approach comprising education, awareness-raising to address misconceptions, and a redesign of the toilets (A/HRC/24/44/Add.2, para. 30).
- 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)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph number
- 48
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