Publications
Eliminating Discrimination and Inequalities in
Access to Water and Sanitation
UN-Water released a new policy
brief entitled, Eliminating
Discrimination and Inequalities
in Access to Water and
Sanitation. Just weeks after
the formal adoption of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, the publication
represents a timely contribution
to the international community
as conversations shift from the
adoption of the Sustainable
Development Goals towards the
topic of implementation.
At present, nearly 663 million people still live without
access to improved drinking water sources, roughly 2.4
billion do not have access to safe sanitation, and nearly
1,000 children under five years old die every day because
of water and sanitation-related disease.
For many communities, access to drinking water is
threatened on a daily basis by factors such as water
diversion, land expropriation, unlawful pollution and/or
the harmful effects of extractive industries. Meanwhile, in
many parts of the world, women and children are forced
to walk long distances for water collection and waste
disposal and are often exposed to harassment, attacks,
violence and rape along the way. And in some countries,
the lack of sanitation compels parents to withdraw their
children, especially girls, from schools.
“In this sense,” UN-Water Chair, Michel Jarraud,
commented, “the linkages between human rights and
access to water and sanitation are deeply interwoven. And
because water, as a fundamental resource, cuts across
all aspects of sustainable development, recognizing this
connection is not only critical to achieving SDG 6 [the
Goal on water and sanitation] but the broader 2030
Agenda.”
The content of the human rights to water and
sanitation
The human right to water entitles everyone without
discrimination to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically
accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic
use; which includes water for drinking, personal sanitation,
washing of clothes, food preparation, and personal and
household hygiene.
The human right to sanitation entitles everyone without
discrimination to physical and affordable access to
sanitation, in all spheres of life, which is safe, hygienic,
secure, socially and culturally acceptable, which provides
for privacy and ensures dignity.
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November - December 2015
The United Natio