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The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Secondly, to meet human rights standards, water must be safe, that is, of such quality that it does not pose a threat to human health. Sanitation facilities must be hygienically and technically safe to use. To ensure hygiene, access to water for cleansing and hand washing is essential. While target 7.C explicitly refers to access to safe drinking water, the indicator does not measure quality directly. It is based on the assumption that improved sources are likely to provide safe water. However, this is not always the case. The drinking water obtained from many improved sources is in fact unsafe, with potentially adverse consequences for the health-related Millennium Development Goals as well as target 7.C. Simply putting a lid on the polluted water, which then counts as a protected well, does not mitigate all forms of pollution. To include an assessment of actual drinking water safety in the Joint Monitoring Programme assessments, household survey data would need to be complemented by data derived from other approaches such as periodic water quality sample surveys using field-based techniques. This is already done in Bangladesh, where a serious contamination of the groundwater with arsenic made it mandatory to monitor water quality, since many "improved" water sources were severely contaminated.
- 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
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Development cooperation in the water and sanitation sector 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- More specifically with respect to the human right to water, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights explained that States parties are obligated to respect the enjoyment of that right in other countries, to refrain from actions that interfere with the enjoyment of the right to water in other countries and to prevent their own citizens and companies from violating the right to water of individuals and communities in other countries. In addition, the Committee indicated that States should facilitate realization of the right to water in other countries, for example through provision of water resources, financial and technical assistance and necessary aid when required, in a manner that is consistent with the Covenant and other human rights standards and that is sustainable and culturally appropriate. The economically developed States have a special responsibility and interest to assist the poorer developing States in that regard. The Committee also elaborated on the responsibility of States through multilateral organizations, indicating that State parties that are members of international financial institutions, notably the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and regional development banks, should take steps to ensure that the right to water is taken into account in their lending policies, credit agreements and other international measures (see E/C.12/2002/11, paras. 33, 34 and 36).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Participation in decision-making regarding the type of service is only effective if there is access to sufficient and accurate information, which is in itself a human right. To be able to make informed choices, communities and individuals must have access to adequate information about the different technologies' long-term costs, sustainability and related health and environmental concerns.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), an instrument providing useful guidance on participation even beyond its regional scope, requires that public bodies take due account of the outcome of public participation and notify the public of the decision made, giving reasons and spelling out what was considered in reaching the decision.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Neglecting the rights of marginalized people violates human rights law and its fundamental principle of non-discrimination. Moreover, doing so might render services unsustainable. When a water and sanitation system is designed for a city or town with a certain number of inhabitants, ignoring the affordability challenges faced by poorer people will mean these people will eventually be disconnected from services. Those numbers can rise significantly in times of crisis; in such cases the system becomes unsustainable and underfunded, unless tariffs increase for those who stay connected (which in turn might lead to more disconnections). On the other hand, the inclusion of those previously excluded from water and sanitation networks, such as slum dwellers, will bring more revenues to the system and promote a more sustainable use of water resources, as everybody will contribute to paying for the system. In many instances, paying regular tariffs will be significantly more affordable to people than paying for informal services at often exorbitant prices. Finally, from an environmental perspective, extending networked provision also contributes to sustainability as unauthorized abstraction from groundwater sources will be significantly reduced.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Ensuring participation proves to be a consistent challenge, and lack of participation has negative impacts on sustainability. Such challenges are exacerbated in times of crisis, where the State seeks to avoid the financial costs of participation and is under time pressure to adopt austerity-related measures. However, States are never exempted from their human rights obligations, including the duty to give people the opportunity to pronounce themselves on issues that concern them. Where meaningful participation does not occur, States often misunderstand the barriers to access, and fail to pinpoint how these barriers might be overcome. Lack of participatory processes might result in choices which might simply be unacceptable to the people they aim to serve, hence condemning the said solutions to unsustainability, as they may not be used at all or people might revert to old habits after using the new services for a while. During her mission to Tuvalu the Special Rapporteur witnessed a change of perception among the general public concerning previously rejected eco-sanitation solutions, attributable to a new participatory approach comprising education, awareness-raising to address misconceptions, and a redesign of the toilets (A/HRC/24/44/Add.2, para. 30).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The provision of services and systems should be properly planned in a strategic manner, such that ongoing assessments of risks across the entire infrastructure are conducted. Services and systems must be appropriately financed for their full life cycle, including for operation, maintenance, repair and replacement. Technology must be appropriate for the given need and must also be appropriately maintained.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Water contamination has a significant impact on the realization of human rights, including the human right to water, but also the rights to health, food and a healthy environment, among many others. Human rights principles and standards are relevant beyond the context of water and sanitation service delivery and need to be integrated into discussions on water and wastewater management at all levels.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Planning for the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The Performance Assessment System project developed by the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University in Gujarat, India, seeks to assess the coverage, quality and service levels in water and sanitation in urban areas of the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The project focuses particularly on developing better information on reaching poor households, in particular in slum areas, and has developed methods of spatial analysis for monitoring equity in service provision.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human Rights Obligations Related to Non-State Service Provision in Water and Sanitation 2010, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- When non-State actors are involved in service provision, the obligation remains with the State to ensure that the involvement does not result in violations of the rights to sanitation and water; adequate regulation is thus required. Regulation is often understood to refer "to the promulgation of an authoritative set of rules, accompanied by some mechanism, typically a public agency, for monitoring and promoting compliance with these rules" that are aimed at the protection of consumers, investors and the environment. Accordingly, regulatory activities pertain to environmental regulation, consumer protection (including in case of disconnections), the regulation of water quality, economic regulation, and general monitoring of the sector. In order to be effective, regulation requires, inter alia, "independent monitoring, genuine public participation and imposition of penalties for non-compliance." In this section, the independent expert will introduce the relevant human rights standards, consider the responsibilities of non-State actors in the operation of services, highlight the need for institutional and regulatory capacity, pay particular attention to the regulation of informal small-scale providers, and stress the significance of complementary social 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- While States have the primary legal obligation for the realization of human rights domestically, all States have responsibilities to create an enabling environment for human rights realization. There are a number of legal obligations associated with economic, social and cultural rights, including the rights to water and sanitation, which, subject to certain important qualifications, are to be discharged within the framework of international cooperation. States failing to meet their obligations by reason of legitimate resource constraints are required to call upon international assistance, and the international community has a responsibility to respond, whether bilaterally or collectively, through financial aid, technical assistance or other appropriate measures. The Human Rights Council has recognized the important role of international cooperation and assistance played by the United Nations, development and donor agencies, and stresses that more should be done to support States in their efforts to address the lack of access to sanitation. The Council has also urged development partners to adopt a human rights based approach when designing development programmes in support of national initiatives relating to sanitation (see Council resolution 12/8 (para. 6)). The logic of these recommendations applies equally to water.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 6f
- Paragraph text
- [While target 7.C itself is of critical importance, it is also indispensable for achieving the other Millennium Development Goals:] Looking beyond basic water supply for personal and domestic uses, the absence of clean water and sanitation is also a major cause of poverty and malnutrition, and water insecurity linked to climate change may increase the number of people suffering malnutrition by 75 million to 125 million by 2080 (Goals 1 and 7).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Clean and safe water available within the home will ensure the household's access to sufficient quantities of safe water resulting in optimal health outcomes and significant time savings in water collection times. It also eliminates the need for transportation and the risk of unsafe storage, reducing the risk of contamination of water supply and limiting the need for household water treatment. Water piped into the home is more likely to be reliable and continuous compared to other delivery options.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The human rights framework obliges States to put in place mechanisms to hold the relevant actors accountable. They must provide for redress mechanisms in the law and address barriers that may prevent access to justice in practice, including through measures to overcome obstacles such as prohibitive costs, language requirements, requirements of representation and geographic location of institutions. Members of the legal profession must be adequately trained in human rights law, including economic, social and cultural rights, non-discrimination law, and environmental law.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The normative content of the right to water and sanitation defined in terms of availability, quality, acceptability, accessibility and affordability points to essential features to be considered in the definition of indicators and targets. The misalignment of the current framework, such as for instance, the omission of whether water sources counting towards the achievement of the target are of good quality, has shown that the Millennium Development Goals can greatly benefit from better and more sustainable impacts if human rights are mainstreamed.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Wastewater management in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The challenges arising from contamination call for concerted efforts to achieve sustainable wastewater management and pollution control based on human rights.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Participation in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Information must be objective, i.e., cover the potential positive and negative impacts of the measures being considered, as well as comprehensive, i.e., not leave out significant elements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Failures to protect necessary resources and infrastructure relate to issues such as (a) failure to protect water distribution or sanitation infrastructure from interference, damage and destruction; (b) failure to regulate excessive exploitation of water resources by third parties that leads to deprivation of water necessary for personal and domestic uses; and (c) failure to develop and enforce regulation to protect water resources from contamination.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is pleased to see that violations of the obligation to respect, such as unjustifiable disconnections or pollution of water resources are regularly brought to court. She encourages greater attention to violations that are linked to discrimination and stigmatization and threaten the inherent and equal dignity of all human beings.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, regular supply is essential for continuous accessibility. This is not considered within the indicators, meaning that the impact of prolonged rationing or the drying up of wells during the hot season will not be picked up. To meet human rights standards with regard to accessibility, water supply must be predictable and must enable users to meet all needs over the day without compromising water quality.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The Millennium Development Goals are global targets to be achieved at the global level. The targets should not be applied uniformly at the country level in all cases. It is permissible and even necessary to tailor and contextualize the Goals to diverse national conditions and resource constraints. A 50 per cent reduction in the lack of access to water and sanitation may be ambitious in many countries, but relatively simple in others. Many countries should set targets beyond this benchmark to be achieved by 2015.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sustainability and non-retrogression in the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Sustainability is more than mere reliability or functionality, and requires a balance of its different dimensions. Water and sanitation must be provided in a way that respects the natural environment; finite resources must be protected and overexploitation cannot occur. Likewise, the economic and social dimensions have to be balanced: while service provision relies on raising sufficient revenue, this must be achieved in such a way as to ensure affordability for all people in society, including those living in poverty.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Promoting the affordability of services, together with a level of cost recovery that meets the requirements for financial sustainability, is a major challenge for regulatory frameworks. Regulatory actors must strike the fine balance between enabling service providers to adequately perform operational and maintenance activities, considering infrastructural, environmental and resource costs, and ensuring affordability. Economic perspectives and human rights perspectives are possible to reconcile, requiring from regulatory actors innovative approaches and a redesign of economic instruments in some situations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- When setting standards, regulation should aim to achieve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of service provision. Regulation should mirror the State’s obligation to guarantee the rights to water and sanitation sustainably and without discrimination, for both present and future generations. This means that today’s services should not limit or negatively affect future generations’ access to services. To that end, when developing a regulatory framework, States should ensure an integrated regulatory approach for the services, including both the regulation of the sector as a whole and the regulation of each service provider individually. Regulation also has a role to play in contributing to providing preparedness and resilience measures for emergency situations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Even when in place, regulations are not always used to their full potential and best advantage to maximize public health benefits. For example, regulations do not always clearly indicate which stakeholders are accountable and liable for identifying, responding to and mitigating risks to drinking-water quality. Regulations should also contemplate situations where water supply is unsafe, by providing coping measures (e.g. alerts) and precautionary actions. In this context, access to information on water quality is essential and should be safeguarded by regulation, using clear, easy-to-understand language, and be readily accessible to all the population.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Regulations should give a practical meaning to “availability” and ensure, at least, access to a minimum essential amount of water that is sufficient, reliable and safe for personal and domestic uses to prevent disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidance, an intermediate level of access, to 50 litres per person per day, represents a low level of health concern (provided that absence of contamination is rigorously assessed), while an optimal level of access, to 100 litres per person per day, represents a very low level of health concern. A regulatory interpretation of “availability” should also consider situations where additional supply of water is required due to health issues, climate conditions (i.e. drought), emergency/disaster situations, work conditions, or any other special circumstances; and situations of disruption to water supply.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- When seeking to ensure affordability in practice, measures to implement human rights often need to be reconciled with broader considerations of ensuring environmental and economic sustainability. "Social sustainability" in the form of affordable access must not be jeopardized in favour of measures that aim to secure economic and environmental sustainability. To be environmentally sustainable, there must be sufficient water resources of good quality available to serve existing and future users. Water tariffs should be designed to allow for access to sufficient water for essential purposes but, where necessary, to limit use for luxuries. Water resources must be protected from pollution, which means that sanitation services must include appropriate collection, transport, treatment and disposal of wastewater to protect both public health and the environment. However, sanitation tariffs must not be so high that people avoid using the service, which could put a strain on public health.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Whether or not this type of service meets human rights criteria standards depends on multiple factors. Particular issues to consider are water quality, price, distance from the home, waiting times (where there are a number of households using the same source) and the appropriate transport to and storage within the home. Depending on the position of the facility relative to the home, households may not be able to collect the optimum amount of water to ensure good health. Even where water is safe at source, the transport of water to the home, and storage within the home may not be safe, and the necessary water treatment can be prohibitively expensive for households living in poverty. Further, there is seldom any assistance for using household water treatment methods to ensure that they are reliable, safe and sustainable. Similarly, they often do not have regular access to the necessary materials (for example, chlorine). Prices for water supplies may rise and fall according to water availability, putting the price of water out of reach for households on low-incomes in times of water scarcity.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Individual households have various options for sanitation provision, many of which meet human rights standards in different contexts and circumstances, depending, among other aspects, on user engagement. These include pit latrines, ventilated improved pit latrines, septic tanks and different types of ecological sanitation, which are often based on the separation of faeces and urine, on limiting water use, and on the reuse of waste matter. Some options, such as hanging latrines and "flying toilets", are not acceptable under any circumstances, as they do not ensure safety and contribute to the contamination of the environment.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Human rights require that sanitation facilities must be hygienically safe to use and easy to clean and maintain. They must effectively prevent human and animal, including insect, contact with human excreta to avert the spread of disease. Manual emptying of pit latrines or septic tanks should be avoided as it is considered unsafe (as well as culturally unacceptable in many places, which may lead to the stigmatization of those burdened with this task), meaning that mechanized alternatives that effectively prevent direct contact with human excreta should be used. Regular cleaning, emptying of pits or other places that collect human excreta and maintenance are essential for ensuring the sustainability of sanitation facilities and continued access. Sanitation facilities must also be technically safe to use, which means that the superstructure is stable and the floor and hole to the pit are designed in a way that reduces the risk of accidents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph