UN recognition of right to water and sanitation — never too late to say thanks again!

Although it has been nearly two weeks since the United Nations General Assembly declared that  safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right many emails and tweets are still being sent around celebrating this historic resolution. 

It is still very exciting!

FAN members and others who contacted your governments – please take a moment out to thank yourselves again for your important role in this landmark decision! 

FAN welcomed the resolution, voted for by 122 countries, as it not only builds on the important work of FAN members and others in the sector who are working to secure these rights at the local, national and regional levels, it also builds on the work of the UN Independent Expert (IE) on human rights obligations related to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2008. 

Importantly, the resolution did not neglect to mention sanitation. Diarrhoea, caused by lack of sanitation, is now the biggest killer of children under five in Africa. Although the resolution did not  recognize sanitation as a distinct right – the inclusion of sanitation is still significant, as nearly two fifths of the world’s population (2.6 billion people) do not have access to adequate sanitation. FAN will continue to work to have these rights affirmed separately.

Although no country voted against the resolution, it was unfortunately not passed by consensus – reflecting that perhaps the critical mass of political will on these issues does not yet exist. This in spite of the fact that at least 4,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. 

Four thousand children a day. The biggest killer of children under five in Africa.

For these two reasons and many others, FAN will continue to work on the recognition of these human rights, as these rights and a rights based approach are critical to ensuring access to the billions currently living without sanitation and the millions without access to safe water. 

FAN will also continue our support for the efforts of the Independent Expert. Through country missions, wide consultation and serious discussion and debate, the IE has continued to expose the layers of issues related to these human rights and provide greater understanding of why these rights deserve recognition and what this means in practice. Undoubtedly, this work will continue to accelerate momentum towards rights and access for all.  

If you have your stories/questions/thoughts about working to secure the rights to sanitation and water where you are – please share!

Find out how your country representatives voted and tell them what you think! It is never too late to say thank you to those country representatives and let them know that they have your support.

Kolleen

Tags: Catarina de Albuquerque, human rights, MDGs and sanitation, poverty, Right to Sanitation, Right to Water, sanitation, Sanitation and Water for All, UN independent expert, UN MDG summit