The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation A/RES/80/216 (d) To implement the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals and targets, 18 including the Goal on ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, consistent with their obligations under international law; (e) To take into consideration the New Urban Agenda, 19 which envisages cities and human settlements that fulfil their social function, the full realization of the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, without discrimination, and universal access to safe and a ffordable drinking water and sanitation; (f) To ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all women and girls, as well as for menstrual hygiene management, including for hygiene facilities and services in public and private spaces; (g) To take measures to empower all women and girls for preparedness in humanitarian emergencies and crises, including in times of armed conflict or natural disaster, by ensuring access to water and sanitation services and implementing genderresponsive policies, plans and programmes that address, inter alia, effective menstrual health and hygiene management and adequate disposal options for menstrual products, without compromising their rights, safety and dignity; (h) To address the widespread stigma, shame and discrimination surrounding menstruation, menstrual health and menstrual hygiene by promoting educational and health practices in and out of schools in order to foster a culture in which menstruation is recognized as healthy and natural and by ensuring access to factual information thereon, including for men and boys, addressing the negative social norms around the issue, as well as ensuring universal access to hygienic products and gender-sensitive facilities, including disposal and waste management options for menstrual products, while recognizing that women’s and girls’ attendance at school, university or, for women, work can be affected by negative perceptions of menstruation and lack of means to maintain personal hygiene, such as safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools, public places and, for women, the workplace; (i) To promote both women’s leadership and their full, effective and equal participation in decision-making on water and sanitation management and to ensure that a gender-based approach is adopted in relation to water and sanitation programmes; (j) To reduce the time spent by women and girls in collecting household water, in order to address the negative impact of inadequate water and sanitation services on girls’ access to education and the full enjoyment of their right to education, including through improved public services and infrastructure; (k) To protect all women and girls from being physically threatened or assaulted, including from sexual violence, while collecting household water and when accessing sanitation facilities outside their home or when practising open defecation and urination, which is exacerbated where the issue of lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation requires women and girls to travel longer distances and wait in long queues, including through promoting safe public spaces and improving the security and safety of women and girls through gender-responsive rural and urban planning and infrastructure, as well as through their meaningful participation in planning processes; _______________ 18 19 25-20968 See resolution 70/1. Resolution 71/256, annex. 7/9