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Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights is often recalled and reiterated in human rights instruments and by human rights bodies, although frequently disregarded in practice. The interdependence of all human rights is unequivocal when considering the situation of persons living in poverty, which is both a cause and a consequence of a range of mutually reinforcing human rights violations. Eradicating extreme poverty not only requires improving access to housing, food, education, health services, water and sanitation, but also requires ensuring that persons living in poverty have the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary to enjoy the whole spectrum of human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In the view of the Special Rapporteur, and of most scholars, the legal arguments supporting the claim of non-receivability are wholly unconvincing in legal terms. First, the claims appear to have all of the characteristics of a private law tort claim. The victims accuse the United Nations of negligence for failure to adequately screen its peacekeeping forces for cholera, failure to provide for adequate sanitation facilities and waste management at Mirebalais camp, failure to undertake adequate water quality testing and a failure to take immediate corrective action after cholera was introduced. These are classic third-party claims for damages for personal injury, illness and death, and they arise directly from action or inaction by, or attributable to, MINUSTAH. This would include a failure to exercise non-negligent supervision of the actions of private contractors. The United Nations has frequently processed claims involving alleged negligence, especially, for example, in relation to traffic accidents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Economic inequalities also have an impact on the realization of the right to water. In a 2012 report, the Secretary-General cited an analysis of data from 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that found that access to improved sources of water varied from 94 per cent among the richest 20 per cent in urban areas to 34 per cent among the poorest 20 per cent in rural areas (see A/67/394, para. 29). In another study, it was found that the "rate of progress in access to water and sanitation is very uneven among wealth quintiles in many countries, with the poorest two quintiles frequently experiencing lack of improvement while other quintiles experience significant advances".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Finally, as noted above, the panel sought to mitigate the Organization's responsibility by noting that the outbreak was due not to one single event but rather to a "confluence of circumstances", including deficient water, sanitation and health-care systems. But again, apart from being inconsistent with the principal finding that MINUSTAH was indeed responsible, this construction conflates responsibility for bringing cholera to Haiti on the one hand with the country's vulnerability on the other hand. The fact is that cholera would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The World Bank and human rights 2015, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The key question then is whether it actually matters if the Bank uses the language of human rights or opts instead for surrogates which are perceived to be less politically loaded or contentious. After all, if it advocates for gender equality, does it really matter if it uses the language of human rights, or whether any reference is made to United Nations standards or the work of bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women? Or if the Bank works to expand access to water and sanitation, who cares if it characterizes them as human rights or not? Or if the Bank talks about problems relating to inclusion, participation, governance or the rule of law, does it matter if the issues are framed in "Bank speak" rather than in terms of the human rights obligations of the State? Or if the focus is on assisting those living in extreme poverty, why worry if the Bank assiduously stops short of talking about a human right to social protection? Surely, what counts are results, not scoring points for correct language usage?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Quality public service provision should be free at the point of use (for example health services and primary education) or at affordable cost (for example water and sanitation and transport), in order to give unpaid caregivers the option to undertake other pursuits such as paid work, participation in public life, education or self-care, while ensuring a level of care for their dependants. States should therefore preserve and boost investment in public services, especially in times of economic crisis when inequalities become more pronounced. The principles of non-discrimination and equality require States to ensure that public services meet the standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability and quality, and to expand coverage in ways that reduce class, gender and regional inequalities, focusing on physical and economic accessibility for the most disadvantaged persons, groups and regions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 104
- Paragraph text
- The construction of new roads, affordable public transport, low-cost electricity, solar and water energy for domestic purposes, and water and sanitation infrastructure are particularly crucial in this regard. In addition, States should increase construction of health care facilities and schools in underserved areas, as well as related infrastructure such as gender-segregated sanitation facilities. Where appropriate, village-level reforestation programmes and local rainwater harvesting schemes can also dramatically reduce the time women spend on water and fuel collection.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In order to resolve the controversy, the Secretary-General, to his credit, established the panel of independent experts in January 2011. In its report, issued in May 2011, the panel expressly rejected the environmental theory. Instead, it found that "the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination of the Mèyé Tributary of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a result of human activity". If the experts had left it at that, the conclusion would have been that MINUSTAH peacekeepers were responsible for the outbreak. But they went on to claim that the dumping of faeces alone "could not have been the source of such an outbreak without simultaneous water and sanitation and health care system deficiencies … coupled with conducive environmental and epidemiological conditions". By adding this observation, the experts suggested that nature, as well as the country's underdevelopment, were also to blame. This enabled them to reach their ultimate conclusion, that the "outbreak was caused by the confluence of circumstances … and was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In response to the controversy provoked by this ambiguous and inconsistent assessment, the panel published a follow-up article in 2013 introducing a new formulation, that "the preponderance of the evidence and the weight of the circumstantial evidence does lead to the conclusion that personnel associated with the Mirebalais MINUSTAH facility were the most likely source of introduction of cholera into Haiti". They also noted that their scientific language had been accurately translated in a newspaper report that stated their conclusion to be that the outbreak "was almost certainly caused by a poorly constructed sanitation system installed at a rural camp used by several hundred United Nations troops from Nepal". They went on to explain why they asserted that no one was at fault: "We do not feel that this was a deliberate introduction of cholera into Haiti"; rather, it was "an accidental and unfortunate confluence of events".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Second, the duties owed by the United Nations are directly analogous to those owed by a company or private property owner to ensure adequate waste management and to take adequate precautions to prevent spreading diseases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- For example, inadequate State provision of key infrastructure such as energy and water and sanitation facilities has a disproportionate impact on poor women and girls living in rural areas in developing countries, who spend large amounts of time collecting water and fuel for household use. Studies indicate that in sub-Saharan Africa 71 per cent of the burden of collecting water for households falls on women and girls, who in total spend 40 billion hours a year collecting water, equivalent to a year's worth of labour by the entire workforce in France.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Lack of access to infrastructure and technology, including water and sanitation facilities, electricity and domestic technologies, exacerbates the unpaid care work of women living in poverty who have to dedicate a huge amount of time to domestic tasks such as fetching water or preparing foods. For example, a study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo showed that women with traditional stoves worked as much as 52 hours per week more than would be necessary with fuel-efficient stoves.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The right to health requires States parties to provide quality and accessible health care and take measures to ensure the underlying determinants of health. This includes access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, an adequate supply of safe food, nutrition and housing, and also healthy occupational and environmental conditions, which clearly many unpaid caregivers living in poverty do not enjoy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Detention and incarceration can also have serious health implications for the poorest and most vulnerable, who are likely to be subject to the worst treatment and conditions, including overcrowded cells, inadequate hygiene facilities, rampant disease transmission and inadequate health care. In some cases, overcrowding in prisons can have such a severe effect on detainees that the conditions may even amount to a form of cruel and inhuman treatment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Immediately after the publication of the panel's report in May 2011, a United Nations spokesperson was dismissive of the report on the grounds that it did "not present any conclusive scientific evidence linking the outbreak to the MINUSTAH peacekeepers or the Mirebalais camp". Senior officials have continued to rely on this defence. However, the more detailed and official response provided in a letter dated 25 November 2014 from Assistant Secretary-General Pedro Medrano Rojas, Senior Coordinator for the Cholera Response in Haiti, addressed to the special procedures mandate holders took a different tack. Although the letter is long and detailed, it curiously makes no mention of the panel's principal finding, which was, as noted above, that that "the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination of the Meye Tributary of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a result of human activity". In other words, MINUSTAH was indeed the source. Instead, after citing the panel's reference to poor water and sanitation conditions and inadequate medical facilities, Mr. Medrano suggested that the main outcome of the inquiry was the statement that the outbreak "was not the fault of, or due to deliberate action by, a group or individual". Similarly, regularly updated fact sheets describing the United Nations response continue to make no mention of the panel's principal conclusion in relation to MINUSTAH. It has been airbrushed out of the picture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- In order to ensure that women's rights are fully respected, social protection programmes must be accompanied by gender-sensitive social services, including sexual and reproductive health care. This requires investment in public services, without which social protection programmes will not be effective. Women and girls, for example, may be prevented from meeting conditionalities imposed by a programme if social services are far away and transportation costs are too high, or if they fear being sexually assaulted while making the trip required. Girls may not attend school if there are no separate sanitation facilities for them or if they are harassed by teachers or other students. Mothers may not bring their children to the hospital owing to discriminatory practices on the part of health-care providers (for example, requesting the consent of the husband) or communication difficulties (for example, women might be expected to demonstrate some form of literacy or might not be able to communicate in their minority language). In the same vein, women may choose not to use clinics for child delivery because of a lack of skilled birth attendants or culturally appropriate birthing methods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Social protection programmes must take into account and address all obstacles preventing women from gaining access to or participating in them. Childcare facilities, for example, appear to be effective in ensuring the participation of women in social protection programmes. Public-works programmes should allow for flexible working hours in order to accommodate domestic responsibilities. In addition, public-works activities could prioritize the promotion of gender-sensitive community assets (for example, facilitation of access to water, sanitation and firewood). In addition, policymakers could assess the feasibility of moving beyond employment-intensive social infrastructure projects to include some activities that might attract women while lessening their burden of unpaid work, such as child or elderly care. In any case, public work programmes must always ensure there are equal wages for men and women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The recovery from the crises presents an opportunity for States to ensure a social protection floor for everyone under their jurisdiction. This concept refers to a minimum level of social protection that everyone should enjoy. A national social protection floor is a basic set of rights and transfers that enables and empowers all members of a society to have access to essential services (such as adequate nutrition, health, education, housing, water and sanitation) and income security (through social transfers). The term "social floor" can correspond to the existing notion of "core obligations", to ensure the realization of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- To this end, States should ensure the physical availability and economic affordability of inexpensive technologies, such as grain mills and fuel-efficient stoves, as well as the basic infrastructure, such as electricity, that could significantly reduce the amount and drudgery of women's work within the home. In remote and isolated areas, access to technology for water delivery is particularly relevant. States must facilitate improved and sustainable access to water, particularly in rural and deprived urban areas; they also have an immediate obligation to ensure that women are not disproportionately bearing the burden of water collection.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The UN responsibility for the cholera outbreak in Haiti 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Because the position taken by United Nations officials relies heavily on the claim that there remains doubt as to the source of the cholera outbreak and invokes the panel's report in support, it is appropriate both to assess the validity of the panel's consistently cited assessment and to consider more recent scientific assessments. Before doing so, it should be noted that there is a fundamental inconsistency in the panel's conclusions. After stating clearly that "the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination", the report goes on to say that "[t]he introduction of this cholera strain as a result of environmental contamination with feces could not have been the source of such an outbreak without simultaneous water and sanitation and health care system deficiencies". Presumably, the panel intended to say that the contamination could not alone have been the sole cause, had there not been deficiencies in the environment into which the faeces were released. But that is not in fact what the report states.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
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