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African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990, para. 2h
- Paragraph text
- State Parties to the present Charter shall undertake to pursue the full implementation of this right and in particular shall take measures: to ensure that all sectors of the society, in particular, parents, children, community leaders and community workers are informed and supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of domestic and other accidents;
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- A collective organization enables cooperatives to take on complex housing and infrastructure projects that would otherwise not be possible for an individual household. Community funds provide financial and technical support for the purchase of land parcels and communal infrastructure (such as roads, drainage, water and sanitation). The process typically involves negotiations with other stakeholders, such as the original owners of the parcel and the Government. In the Scandinavian model, the "mother" (also known as "parent" or "secondary") cooperative association is responsible for building housing developments, which are then sold to "daughter" (also known as "subsidiary" or "primary") cooperatives. Financial risk for members is limited to their daughter cooperative.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls 2014, para. 42j
- Paragraph text
- [The Commission urges Governments, at all levels [...] to take the following actions:] [Realizing women's and girls' full enjoyment of all human rights]: Enact and implement legislation to protect, support and empower child-headed households, in particular those headed by girls, and include provisions to ensure their economic well-being and access to health-care services, nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, shelter, education and inheritance, and ensure that these families are protected, supported and assisted to stay together;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Generally, regions where mining and quarrying communities live suffer from a lack of basic public services (potable water, sanitary facilities and electricity), including social services. The lack of these basic services means that families have to assume the costs for these services. This places a further financial burden on families, which can result in child slavery in this sector (see A/HRC/18/30/Add.2).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 112
- Paragraph text
- Governments should provide frontier communities with basic services such as potable water and sanitary facilities. Governments should also provide health clinics and ensure that communities can access good-quality health services free of charge or at an affordable price. This would improve family living and health conditions and thereby diminish their expenses and their need to bring children to work with them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Also urges States, with the collaboration of relevant stakeholders, to ensure that the basic humanitarian needs of affected populations and families, including clean water, sanitation, food, shelter, energy, health, including sexual and reproductive health, nutrition, education and protection, are addressed as critical components of humanitarian response, and to ensure that civil registration and vital statistics are an integral part of humanitarian assessments and that livelihoods are protected, recognizing that poverty and lack of economic opportunities for women and girls are among the drivers of child, early and forced marriage;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Children deprived of their liberty from the perspective of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2015, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- In addition, many child migrants suffer appalling and inhuman conditions while detained including overcrowding, inappropriate food, insufficient access to drinking water, unsanitary conditions, lack of adequate medical attention, and irregular access to washing and sanitary facilities and to hygiene products, lack of appropriate accommodation and other basic necessities. In some cases, detention centres refuse to keep migrant children with their families also being detained, and have denied migrant children's right to communicate with their families. Such practices effectively isolate child detainees from social support groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Movement
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
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
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
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
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
Paragraph
CRC - Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, para. 2e
- Paragraph text
- [2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:] (e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;
- Body
- United Nations General Assembly
- Document type
- International treaty
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 1989
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
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
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
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The humiliation homeless people suffer in their daily lives cannot be underestimated. Take for example, the experience of women who lack adequate sanitation facilities, especially during menstrual cycles, or of families who are treated like "human waste", forced to establish their households on or next to a garbage dump. Homeless people have told the Special Rapporteur, often through tears, that more than any material security, what they yearn for is to be "seen", to be recognized and treated by society as human beings with inherent dignity and respect.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Implementing child rights in early childhood 2006, para. 27b
- Paragraph text
- States parties have a responsibility to implement children's right to health by encouraging education in child health and development, including about the advantages of breastfeeding, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation. Priority should also be given to the provision of appropriate prenatal and post natal health care for mothers and infants in order to foster healthy family child relationships, especially between a child and his or her mother (or other primary caregiver) (art. 24.2). Young children are themselves able to contribute to ensuring their personal health and encouraging healthy lifestyles among their peers, for example through participation in appropriate, child centred health education programmes;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2006
Paragraph
Improvement of the situation of women and girls in rural areas (2020), para. 32
- Paragraph text
- (m) Taking appropriate measures to ensure that women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work, as well as contributions to on-farm and off-farm production, is recognized, including by fully recognizing and valuing unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family, and to promote nationally appropriate policies and initiatives supporting the reconciliation of work and family life and the equal sharing of responsibilities between men and women with a view to reducing and equitably distributing such unpaid work, including through, inter alia, the provision of infrastructure, technology and public services, such as water and sanitation, renewable energy, transport and information and communications technology, as well as addressing the need for accessible, affordable and quality childcare and care facilities in rural areas;
- Topic(s)
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
Paragraph
Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention 2009, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- States should take all reasonable measures to ensure that indigenous children, families and their communities receive information and education on issues relating to health and preventive care such as nutrition, breastfeeding, pre- and postnatal care, child and adolescent health, vaccinations, communicable diseases (in particular HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis), hygiene, environmental sanitation and the dangers of pesticides and herbicides.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2009
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
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Even in contexts where women are able to successfully acquire access to resources such as for example land, they continue to face the challenge of access to other resources for its care. For illustration purposes, we can look at the issue of access to water. Women and their families experience multiple challenges relating to security and health when they have to travel considerable distances and spend several hours a day collecting water, which is often polluted and dangerous to their health and well-being. At the same time they are also at risk of sexual and other forms of violence. Furthermore, with the privatization of water for profit, water has become a commodity for the global market. This is a form of structural violence in that water is being forcibly taken away as a public good, despite the recognition by the United Nations that water is a human right. Such a scenario illustrates both interpersonal and structural violence directly related to survival, bodily integrity and health, as women risk their lives daily for water, which is a basic need.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development 1994, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. People are the most important and valuable resource of any nation. Countries should ensure that all individuals are given the opportunity to make the most of their potential. They have the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing, housing, water and sanitation.
- Body
- International Conference on Population and Development
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Right to health in early childhood - Right to survival and development 2015, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The right to health includes more than health care; it is also the right to the underlying determinants of health, such as nutrition; protection against violence; healthy and safe environments, including in the family environment and local community; health-related information and education; safe drinking water; adequate sanitation; and adequate housing. These and other social determinants of health have an impact on the development of the child. Indeed, the environment is a fundamental determinant of the health and well-being of the child and of the adult.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of the child (2013), para. 077
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- (e) To strengthen efforts towards poverty eradication and to adopt, implement and/or strengthen, in coordination with indigenous peoples, appropriate policies aimed at ensuring the right to an adequate standard of living for indigenous children and their families, along with equal access to quality and affordable services, especially health, nutrition, education, welfare, social protection, safe drinking water and sanitation and other services that are essential for the child’s well-being and, in this regard, to pay particular attention to the most vulnerable children and to those living under especially difficult circumstances;
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
Paragraph
Rights of the child (2014), para. 090
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- 48. Also calls upon all States to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children in emergency situations, including natural disasters, in particular their right to food, safe drinking water and sanitation, education, emergency health care, family reunification, protection and trauma relief;
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
Paragraph
Rights of the child: Omnibus resolution 2008, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Further calls upon all States to protect children deprived of their liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to ensure that, if they are arrested, detained or imprisoned, children are provided with adequate legal assistance and that they shall have the right to maintain contact with their family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances, and that no child in detention is sentenced or subject to forced labour or corporal punishment, or deprived of access to and provision of health-care services, hygiene and environmental sanitation, education, basic instruction and vocational training;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2008
Paragraph
Rights of the child: Omnibus resolution 2012, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Urges all States to intensify their efforts to comply with their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to preserve the child’s identity, including nationality, name and family relations, as recognized by law, to ensure birth registration of all children immediately after birth, irrespective of their status, through universal, free, accessible, simple, expeditious and effective registration procedures in accordance with article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to raise awareness of the importance of birth registration at the national, regional and local levels, to facilitate late registration of birth, and to ensure that children who have not been registered have access without discrimination to health care, protection, education, safe drinking water and sanitation, and other basic services;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Rights of the child: Omnibus resolution 2012, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Calls upon all States to protect children deprived of their liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to ensure that, if they are arrested, detained or imprisoned, children are provided with adequate legal assistance and that they have the right to maintain contact with their family through correspondence and visits from the moment they are arrested, save in exceptional circumstances, and that no child is sentenced or subject to forced labour or corporal punishment, or deprived of access to and provision of health care and services, hygiene and environmental sanitation, education, basic instruction and vocational training, and to undertake prompt investigations of all reported acts of violence and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable;
- Body
- United Nations Human Rights Council
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Rights of the child: the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (2013), para. 055
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- 21. Calls upon all States to protect children deprived of their liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to ensure that, if they are arrested, detained or imprisoned, children are provided with adequate legal assistance and that they have the right to maintain contact with their family through correspondence and visits from the moment they are arrested, save in exceptional circumstances, and that no child is sentenced or subject to forced labour or corporal punishment, or deprived of access to and provision of health care and services, hygiene and environmental sanitation, education, basic instruction and vocational training, and to undertake prompt investigations of all reported acts of violence and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable;
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
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
Paragraph