July 29, 2010
WaterAid welcomes UN recognition of right to water and sanitation
The UN General Assembly voted in favor of recognizing the right to
water and sanitation in a resolution made yesterday in New York1.
Over 120 countries voted for the resolution, which was proposed by
Bolivia. States recognized that more than 884 million people lack
access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion have no basic sanitation.
Diarrhea, caused by lack of sanitation, is now the biggest killer
of children under five in Africa. A rights-based approach is critical
to ensuring that the billions of people living without sanitation and
the millions without safe water get the access that they need.
The hard work starts here; now we need this international agreement translated into action on sanitation and water by governments. 
Kate Norgrove, Head of Campaigns, WaterAid
Kate Norgrove, Head of Campaigns at WaterAid said: "It is good news
that the resolution, recognizing water and sanitation as a basic human
right, has been passed by a majority vote. It is particularly
encouraging to see the crucial reference to sanitation, due to its
historic neglect and importance for human development."
"It is however regretful that the vote wasn't passed by consensus,
which exposes a distinct lack of political will on this issue.
Abstentions illustrate the continuing lack of priority given to
sanitation – which is astonishing given that slow progress on
sanitation is holding back progress on many of the other Millennium
Development Goals."
The Independent Expert
2
on water and sanitation will report to the Human Rights Council in
October 2011 on the rights to water and sanitation, where WaterAid will
be calling for all states to affirm these rights
3
.
"We look forward to the continuing work of the Independent Expert,"
says Norgrove, "which we hope will galvanize abstaining countries to do
the work necessary to affirm the rights to water and to sanitation by
next October.
"The hard work starts here; now we need this international agreement
translated into action on sanitation and water by governments at the
national level."
Ends
For more information please contact:
brendamcilwraith@wateraid.org
or call +44(0)20 7793 2245 or +44(0)7887 521 552
Kate Norgrove is available for interviews.
Notes to Editor:
1. The right to water is already part of international law, as it is
implicitly included in Article 11 (1) of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which upholds the right to an
adequate standard of living. There is considerable precedent for
treating the right to sanitation as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living.
2. The Human Rights Council appointed Catarina de Albuquerque as the
Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to safe drinking
water and sanitation in 2008 and she is due to report to the Human
Rights Council on her work in October 2011.
3. WaterAid advocates for the rights to water and sanitation to be affirmed as separate rights.
WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe
water and sanitation. Our mission is to transform lives by improving
access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest
communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to
maximize our impact.
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At least 4000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
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884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
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2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
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Just $30 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.