Search Tips
sorted by
11 shown of 11 entities
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Violations through direct interference are often addressed by national courts interpreting domestic law in line with international human rights law. The Court of Appeal of Botswana, for example, relied on the right to water as set out in general comment No. 15 and the General Assembly resolution on the right to water and sanitation to interpret constitutional provisions. It found that preventing a community of Bushmen from accessing their traditional boreholes amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. In the context of informal settlements in Argentina, a court found that a discontinuation of water supplied with tanker trucks violated the rights to "a healthy environment and dignified housing", ordering the resumption of water provision. The court also ordered the progressive improvement of the water distribution system, thereby demonstrating that violations of the obligation to respect are often linked to violations of obligations to fulfil. The Human Rights Committee found that Bulgaria had violated the right to home and family, as well as the rights to life and non-discrimination, by allowing the Municipality of Sofia to disconnect the water supply to a Roma community. The Committee requested Bulgaria to issue interim measures requiring the authorities to reconnect the water supply.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Water cut-offs may excessively affect women as family caretakers, in particular in poor female-headed households. Human rights law prescribes that a person's inability to pay for reasons beyond their control must never result in the disconnection of services. In Colombia, the Constitutional Court has stated that female-headed households may in some cases be subjected to special protection should they not be able to pay their water bills, and must be guaranteed special tariffs and a minimum amount of free water.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations System Task Team on the Post-2015 Development Agenda has noted that, in developing countries, access to water and sanitation, among others, are much worse for low-income and rural families. Despite progress in poverty reduction in the overall picture, the report argues, major inequalities persist.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The current UNICEF Strategic Plan (2014-2017) outlines a water, sanitation and hygiene indicator framework including targets for access in households and schools. It designates several outcomes and outputs that express an ample integration of issues of particular relevance to human rights. Some of those targets include enhanced support for children and families leading to sustained use of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and good hygiene practices; increased national capacity to provide access to those services; strengthened political commitment, accountability and national capacity to legislate, plan and budget for the scaling up of interventions; and increased capacity of Governments of partner States to identify and respond to key issues for the human rights to water and sanitation. Most of the outcomes and outputs in the strategy rely on country-wide measurements, that is, “countries with an established target to provide access to drinking water to underserved populations”.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Accountability must be ensured not only in relation to service providers but also in relation to regulatory bodies’ decisions and activities. The International Water Association’s Lisbon Charter emphasizes that regulatory frameworks should establish the necessary mechanisms to ensure accountability and public scrutiny of regulatory bodies. Individuals should have the right to judicially challenge a regulatory body’s decision or regulation that interferes with the enjoyment of their human rights to water and sanitation. The Colombian water and sanitation regulatory commission issued a number of regulations obliging service providers to disconnect water services when there is no payment during a three-month period. However, cases brought before the Constitutional Court by low-income families were ruled in the families’ favour, as they were being deprived of a “minimum essential level of water” due to their inability to pay.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Worldwide, women perform unpaid jobs - mostly domestic and caregiving responsibilities - three times more than men do. Therefore, as caregivers, women are also more affected when family members get ill as a result of inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Women's disproportionate share of unpaid work makes them financially dependent on others and leaves them less time for education and paid work. This again reinforces gender-assigned roles and women's financial dependence on men, including in terms of their ability to pay for water, sanitation and hygiene services. In addition, States do not value or reflect unpaid domestic and care work in economic indicators. Any governmental or civil society approach that seeks to address gender inequalities needs to question existing social norms and develop measures to encourage men to share responsibilities with women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Many cultures have certain prescriptions for women's and girls' behaviour during menstruation which may amount to harmful traditional and cultural practices, violating not only the right to sanitation but, more broadly, women's and girls' human rights and gender equality. In Nepal, the Supreme Court issued an order to eliminate the practice of chaupadi, which forces menstruating women and girls to sleep in isolation from the rest of the family, in a hut or shed, with risks to their health and security. The Court declared that the practice was discriminatory and violated women's rights. It ordered the Government to conduct a study on the impact of the practice, to create awareness and to take measures to eliminate the tradition.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The Indian Supreme Court ordered schools to provide adequate toilet facilities in schools. Relying on empirical research showing that "parents do not send their children (particularly girls) to schools" wherever sanitation facilities are not provided, the Court found that a lack of toilets violated the right to education. Failure to provide water and sanitation to those deprived of liberty has been addressed by courts and international bodies primarily as constituting cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The High Court of Fiji held that prisoners' right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment was violated by lack of access to adequate sanitation facilities. The Human Rights Committee has found human rights violations, as have regional human rights bodies, in a number of cases in which prisoners have been denied access to sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Violations also result from decisions to deprive stigmatized groups, such as homeless people, undocumented migrants, occupiers of informal settlements or prisoners, of water and sanitation as a form of punishment for unlawful or undesired activity. The Special Rapporteur on torture has documented that detainees have been forced to rely on water to drink delivered by their families, or on water from toilets. The Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation has also voiced concerns that limiting access to water and sanitation may be used as a, sometimes excessive, form of punishment for prisoners. In cases of secret detention, Special Rapporteurs and the Council of Europe have expressed concern about detainees being forced to wear diapers, which is "offensive to the notions of dignity".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Only by addressing stigma will States be able to fully realize the human rights to water and sanitation, and ensure non-discrimination or the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment. Comprehensive and holistic measures to prevent, address and provide for redress in cases of stigma and punish the perpetrators where stigma results in the violation of human rights are indispensable. States must refrain from any activities that perpetuate and institutionalize stigma, and must protect individuals from human rights abuses committed by third parties, including, for example, service providers, the media, community members and family members, that are rooted in stigma as a deeply entrenched sociocultural phenomenon. To that extent, States must act with due diligence. They must go beyond enacting formal legal provisions and take positive action to meet their obligations effectively and make a legitimate and reasonable effort to prevent and combat stigma.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Stigmatization is not limited to the public sphere. For instance, many people living with HIV/AIDS face stigmatization within their families. Similarly, women with obstetric fistula are often stigmatized, due to the leaking of urine and sometimes faeces, resulting in a constant wetness and foul odour. The stigma associated with fistula demonstrates how closely the external and internalized dimensions of stigma are intertwined. Women suffering from fistula are often deserted by their family and friends while also feeling ashamed and disgraced; they often "eat alone, sleep alone, and pray alone". Lack of access to water and sanitation worsens the situation and reinforces the stigma against such women, who need to wash and bathe more frequently.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
11 shown of 11 entities