SANITATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT

Almost 40 per cent of people in the world still lack access to improved sanitation. Currently, 2.5 billion people without a proper toilet are at risk of poor health and enjoy few economic opportunities. They often live in degraded environments and are being denied a basic human right. Access to basic sanitation is not a charitable impulse, it is a legal entitlement. The Sanitation Drive to 2015 urges governments and other stakeholders to make this right a reality. 

Sanitation is a human right

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognized clean 

drinking water and safe sanitation to be a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and 

all other human rights.

Declaring that access to sanitation and water is a human right constitutes an important step towards making it a reality for everyone. It means that:

1.Access to basic sanitation and safe water is an entitlement, rather than a commodity or a  service provided on a charitable basis.

2.Progress on access to basic sanitation must be accelerated. 

3.Efforts should focus on those least served, including the hardest to reach and most   vulnerable. 

4.Communities and vulnerable groups need to be empowered and engaged in decision-making processes.

5.The means and mechanisms available within the United Nations human rights system should be used to monitor nations’ progress towards realizing the right to water and sanitation, and to hold governments accountable.

Open defecation is the most extreme manifestation of poor sanitation

The Sanitation Drive to 2015 focuses on ending open defecation, defined as defecation in fields, 

forests, bushes, bodies of water or other open spaces.

Today, 1.1 billion people – 15 per cent of the world’s population – have no alternative other than to practice open defecation, the most extreme manifestation of poor sanitation.It disproportionately affects the poorest and most marginalized and is strongly related to the spread of major killer diseases such as diarrhoea.

Why is defecating in the open an affront to human rights? Catarina de Albuquerque, the United 

Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, explains: 

“Dignity closely relates to self-respect, which is difficult to maintain when being forced to squat down in the open, with no respect for privacy, not having the opportunity to clean oneself after defecating and facing the constant threat of assault in such a vulnerable moment.”

Take action!

Concerted action is needed if we are to transform the right to water and sanitation into a reality. 

In 2010, the United Nations called for a redoubling of efforts towards meeting the MDG targets 

and lent its support to a global effort – the Sanitation Drive to 2015. The Drive to 2015 advocates 

for increased political focus on sanitation, better targeting of funding, coordinated efforts based 

on proven successes, involvement of communities and individuals in decision making, and efforts 

to ensure that all people have access to information and services.

Importantly, it focuses on ending open defecation. The Sanitation Drive urges us all to tackle this 

inequity by giving priority to the poorest and most marginalized populations.

Take action for sanitation by kick-starting your own Sanitation Drive to 2015 campaign!