A/HRC/RES/39/8
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
5 October 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-ninth session
10–28 September 2018
Agenda item 3
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on 27 September 2018
39/8.
The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 64/292 of 28 July 2010, in which the
Assembly recognized the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation as essential for
the full enjoyment of the right to life and all other human rights,
Reaffirming all previous resolutions of the Human Rights Council and the General
Assembly on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, inter alia, Council
resolution 33/10 of 29 September 2016 and Assembly resolution 72/178 of 19 December
2017,
Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities,
Recalling also the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which reaffirms
that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, including
the right to development,
Reaffirming General Assembly resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled
“Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, ensuring to
leave no one behind,
Recalling that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers the issue of the
human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation and other water-related Sustainable
Development Goals, including Goal 6 on ensuring the availability and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all, which comprises important targets relating to
the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, as well as health and hygiene, and
acknowledges the need for an integrated approach to Goal 6 that reflects the interlinkages
between achieving universal and equitable access to safe drinking water, sanitation and
hygiene, while also striving to improve the quality and safety of water, reduce the number
of people suffering from water scarcity and ensure special attention to the needs and rights
of women and girls,
GE.18-16416(E)