Astuces de recherche
Human Rights Obligations Related to Non-State Service Provision in Water and Sanitation 2010, para. 45c
- Paragraph text
- [Depending on the scale and expected impact of the decision and the size and capacity of the actor carrying out the assessment, the human rights impact assessment does not necessarily have to be very formal in nature. To facilitate the process, it could also be integrated with social or environmental impact assessments. While there is no agreed template for conducting a human rights impact assessment, some principal elements can be identified that should be taken into account:] The process of carrying out the assessment itself should be in line with human rights principles, including active, free and meaningful participation, non-discrimination, gender equality, transparency and accountability;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- There is no doubt that future goals, targets and indicators in the post-2015 development framework will influence fundamental decisions on legislation, policymaking and budgeting in the coming decades. The compromises made in the development of the Millennium Development Goals, such as the failure to address water safety, must not be repeated. The new framework must be comprehensive and must ensure that Governments address the most pertinent issues and target the populations most in need. For the next set of goals, it is not enough to attempt to resolve tensions by disregarding development challenges simply because they do not fit into certain definable categories or reshaping them to fit with comfortable limits of knowledge. The way forward requires a leap towards changing the status quo to improve the lives of those most affected by these policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The human rights perspective strengthens those obligations. The Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, recently adopted by a group of experts in international law and human rights, underscore the obligation of States to avoid causing harm extraterritorially, stipulating that States must desist from acts and omissions that create a real risk of nullifying or impairing the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights extraterritorially. The principles also affirm the obligation of States to protect human rights extraterritorially, i.e., to take necessary measures to ensure that non-State actors do not nullify or impair the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. This translates into an obligation to avoid contamination of watercourses in other jurisdictions and to regulate non-State actors accordingly.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- To curb water pollution effectively, regulation must target all sectors and cover the whole country, giving priority to the elimination of the most urgent and serious challenges, which vary from country to country and within countries. They might stem from the use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture in rural areas, the non confinement and non-treatment of sludge and septage in densely populated urban areas, or from industrial wastewater in areas that experience sudden economic growth. States have to assess the situation at the microlevel and prioritize addressing the most urgent challenges.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Regulations must aim both at managing wastewater to reduce the impact of pollution as well as preventing pollution. Regulation can set standards with numerical limits for certain substances or entirely ban particularly dangerous substances. It can also foresee the issuance of permits for discharges of a certain volume and quality. Regulation can, and must, set standards for improving the collection, treatment and reuse of wastewater, while incorporating sludge management. The precautionary principle must be enshrined with regard to water pollution threats, which are not well understood but have the potential to endanger human rights. Another approach, which is used to ensure that drinking water is not contaminated, is to establish safeguard zones. Many European countries have done so based on the European Water Policy Framework Directive. Such zones usually impose limitations on certain activities, such as agriculture and tourism, among others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Finally, the costs of adequate wastewater management are certainly an issue; however, the Special Rapporteur urges policymakers to consider the costs of inaction. Remaining inactive and letting contamination continue unabated means that the huge economic benefits of reducing water pollution and associated health impacts as well as increased productivity and school attendance would not be reaped. While requiring large initial investments, the costs of prevention and treatment by far outweigh the costs of inaction in the long term. Studies on the economic returns of sanitation interventions show that both septic tanks with treatment and sewerage with treatment have a positive cost-benefit ratio, for instance of about 1:4 in the Philippines. Another study in Indonesia that examined the impact of downstream water pollution found that the benefits of treating domestic and industrial wastewater offset the costs by a factor of 2:3.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- When States plan projects for wastewater management or projects that may have an impact on water quality, they need to carry out impact assessments in line with human rights standards and principles. While the Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that companies undertake impact assessments of their projects, she also sees challenges when the findings are not publicly accessible. Moreover, Government institutions need to be able to not only access such studies, but also to analyse and assess them independently, or carry out their own assessments, as the basis for determining whether licences for a given project will be granted. This requires capacity in terms of human, technical and financial resources and expert knowledge (see A/HRC/21/42/Add.2, para. 22).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Technically, wastewater treatment is possible to almost any standard. However, water of extremely high quality is required only for drinking or certain human uses; other livelihood activities and certain industrial and agricultural uses can do with water of lower quality. This allows for a phased approach to wastewater management, as even preliminary or primary treatment can bring significant benefits. The PRODES programme in Brazil provides an interesting example in this context. It starts by stipulating a minimum requirement for primary treatment and continues with increasing standards, determined according to the specific context (see www.ana.gov.br/prodes/).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur considers sustainability to be a fundamental human rights principle essential for realizing the human rights to water and sanitation. She understands sustainability as the direct counterpart to retrogression; it requires that services be available and accessible to everyone on an almost permanent basis, without discrimination, while ensuring beneficial change through quality services and sustained behavior change. Water and sanitation must be available for present and future generations, and the provision of services today should not compromise the future ability to realize these human rights. Understanding sustainability from a human rights perspective greatly contributes to achieving lasting solutions to water and sanitation challenges for present and future generations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Participation in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Meaningful participation must be ensured in any situation where people's access to water or sanitation is (potentially) affected by a project. Mining, for instance, can have serious consequences on both water quantity and quality that can extend across generations (see, for example, A/HRC/24/41, para. 15). Such situations are often marked by an atmosphere of mistrust and power imbalances. Environmental and social impact assessments are needed not only to assess the impact of a project, including on human rights, but are also invaluable for the community to gain clarity. Ideally, impact assessments should be undertaken collaboratively with the community. At a minimum, there must be full disclosure of the findings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 26b
- Paragraph text
- [Violations of the obligation to protect can be grouped under several categories:] Failure to protect necessary resources or infrastructure from pollution or interference;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The European Union has in place a regulation establishing a financing instrument for democracy and human rights worldwide. The most recent specific policy document on the water and sanitation sector was endorsed in 2002 by the Council of the European Union. It emphasizes the importance of relevant principles and standards related to participation, gender equality, transparency and access to information, financial and environmental sustainability in service provision, affordability, and improving service levels for the poorest populations and rural, urban and peri-urban areas.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Moving beyond the direct link to sanitation and wastewater from households, the Special Rapporteur sees the need to consider wastewater from other sources, including the industrial and agricultural sectors, because contamination from those sources has a significant impact on water quality, and the impact of domestic wastewater cannot be considered in isolation. As long as wastewater is generated, whether it be from agriculture, industry, or settlements, and is not confined and appropriately treated, human rights will be at risk of being violated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 87i
- Paragraph text
- [In line with this, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] Donors, international organizations and other non-State actors, including the private sector, should meet their human rights obligations and responsibilities respectively, and support States in improving wastewater management and pollution control, in particular through targeting resources to address the most urgent and serious challenges and improve the lives and livelihoods of the most excluded and disadvantaged populations;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Figures on wastewater treatment are difficult to interpret, as statistics often measure only the percentage of collected wastewater that is treated, leaving aside wastewater and resulting pollution that are not collected in networks, as well as large volumes of groundwater that users extract in a private manner which then contributes to wastewater production. Systematic monitoring of small wastewater treatment systems, including cesspools and septic tanks is challenging (see A/HRC/18/33/Add.2, para. 21). Moreover, wastewater from diffuse sources is almost impossible to quantify and monitor.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Differential pricing can also be used for different sectors, for instance using higher tariffs for industrial, commercial and public users to cross-subsidize residential users. In practice, however, such cross-subsidization is often discouraged and agricultural and industrial water use may be highly subsidized. Where such public financing is not necessary to secure livelihoods and is not directly related to the realization of human rights, existing pricing and subsidy policies should be revised to use the maximum amount of available resources for the realization of human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 87j
- Paragraph text
- [In line with this, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] States should promote the integration of human rights into the post-2015 sustainable development agenda through, inter alia, incorporating the elimination of inequalities, drinking water safety, the collection and treatment of wastewater, especially addressing faecal sludge management, and putting particular emphasis on monitoring informal settlements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- As long as on-site sanitation facilities are constructed, maintained and managed according to human rights standards and principles, there is no dichotomy between human rights and self-supply. However, some of these solutions may be inadequate, especially in terms of cleaning, maintenance and sludge management, which can have strong negative impacts on human health and the environment. In some countries, the State may not recognize its obligation to ensure that self-supply solutions comply with human rights obligations and are appropriate and affordable. States need to put appropriate systems in place, including regulation and financial support for those who need it.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Regardless of the regulatory model chosen, currently most water and sanitation regulatory frameworks typically incorporate aspects of economic regulation (asset management planning and tariff-setting), of quality of service regulation and of drinking water quality regulation. Some may also include aspects of environmental regulation, mainly water abstraction and wastewater discharges, of user interface regulation or of legal and contractual regulation. The fact that different forms of regulation have been adopted for specific purposes without explicit mention of the human rights to water and sanitation standards or principles does not necessarily mean that those forms of regulation do not take into consideration at least partially these standards and principles. In this context, it is essential to emphasize a distinction between fully incorporating the human rights to water and sanitation into regulatory frameworks and choosing some selected aspects of it to comply with. For States to fulfil their human rights obligations, the whole human rights to water and sanitation framework must be reflected in States’ regulatory norms and activities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The International Water Association’s Lisbon Charter underscores the importance of ensuring an adequate level of institutional, functional and financial independence of regulatory bodies. Some of the features that would characterize independent regulatory bodies include: (a) a stable mandate, which does not depend on either the electoral cycle or changes of government; (b) autonomy in exercising their regulatory functions; (c) the definitive nature of their decisions, which can only be challenged in the courts; and (d) substantial administrative autonomy in their human and budgetary resource management.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- While there is scope for increasing wastewater charges in many areas, removing subsidies for industries and agriculture and introducing the "polluter pays" principle more stringently, it is unlikely that the necessary sums can be fully recovered from users. In many countries, wastewater management is still financed through budget allocations or donor support. The Special Rapporteur has previously called for resource allocation to the sector to be increased (see A/66/255, paras. 11 and 12).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- It is important that measures be taken not only to build new facilities, but also to meet the challenges of coping with dysfunctional infrastructure. It is crucial that measures are taken to ensure operation and maintenance.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Human Rights Obligations Related to Non-State Service Provision in Water and Sanitation 2010, para. 45b
- Paragraph text
- [Depending on the scale and expected impact of the decision and the size and capacity of the actor carrying out the assessment, the human rights impact assessment does not necessarily have to be very formal in nature. To facilitate the process, it could also be integrated with social or environmental impact assessments. While there is no agreed template for conducting a human rights impact assessment, some principal elements can be identified that should be taken into account:] The human rights impact on the most excluded and marginalized should specifically be addressed;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 87f
- Paragraph text
- [In line with this, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] States should put in place stronger regulations and independent regulators. They should assign clear institutional responsibilities for all aspects of wastewater management and pollution control, including faecal sludge management. They should develop capacity, including for overseeing and coordinating the sector. They must ensure participation by concerned communities and stakeholders in decision-making on wastewater management in order to promote sustainable solutions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Wastewater can be defined as "a combination of one or more of: domestic effluent consisting of blackwater (excreta, urine and faecal sludge) and greywater (kitchen and bathing wastewater); water from commercial establishments and institutions, including hospitals; industrial effluent, stormwater and other urban run off; and agricultural, horticultural and aquaculture effluent, either dissolved or as suspended matter". Wastewater contains pathogens, heavy metals, chemical contaminants such as acids, but it also contains valuable nutrients.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Wastewater should be understood to include not just sewage, but also faecal sludge and septage originating from pit latrines and septic tanks. Finding the appropriate terminology to cover all those types of wastewater is difficult, and an all encompassing neutral term is yet to be found. However, in following the definition of wastewater as it is emerging in the sector, and seeing the need for a term that encompasses all forms of sewage, sludge and septage, the Special Rapporteur will use this broad understanding of the term "wastewater".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Looking at on-site sanitation solutions, faecal sludge and septage are all too often not confined and treated, while not even included in the aforementioned figures. Faecal sludge, the management of which is often overlooked, if not ignored, presents a major health hazard, especially in urban areas. Designated disposal or treatment sites for faecal sludge often are lacking or are dysfunctional. After pits or tanks have been emptied, sludge is often dumped in the vicinity of peoples' dwellings, and hence remains a major health hazard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Financing for the Realization of the Rights to Water and Sanitation 2011, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, with multiple agencies and stakeholders focusing on the same sector, there is a high potential for overlap or wasteful duplication of services. For instance, a report on water point mapping in Malawi found that, as a result of lack of coordination, new water points were drilled next to existing boreholes while under-served areas continued to be neglected. Accordingly, even if it were possible to determine how much a State is spending on water and sanitation at any given moment, it still might be difficult to determine the amount of resources that could be available if this waste were eliminated. Finally, different institutions, including international donors, may have different monitoring mechanisms for water and sanitation that consider various criteria and employ unique methodologies. This poses a serious problem for Governments hoping to implement a national water and sanitation strategy, as it leads to varying assessments of need and cost.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Emerging data sources and methods that include attention to equity and equality information should be further utilized even though preliminary reviews suggest that these approaches are still at an embryonic stage. The use of new technologies linked to mobile telephones and crowd-sourcing, for example, in relation to slums, can assist to rapidly expand data-gathering and monitoring in a participatory and transparent manner. For example, WaterAid and partners carry out water point mapping with global positioning system techniques to assist local governments to address existing disparities in the allocation of resources for water points and wells in both rural and urban areas, and this has also helped to identify political partisanship.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- While ensuring access to sanitation facilities is a significant step that will bring huge gains in terms of privacy and dignity, the health gains will materialize fully only when human excreta are properly confined, disposed of and managed. Lessons learned from experiences in community-led total sanitation demonstrate how important it is for communities to be entirely open-defecation-free. As long as faeces are still found in the community environment, risks to health will remain (see www.communityledtotalsanitation.org).? The same holds true when wastewater ends up in the nearby or larger environment: the community, or other communities living downstream, can be negatively affected. Not dealing with emptying, disposing of and treating sludge puts at risk the benefits of increased sanitation coverage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph