Rio+20: Canada finally recognises human right to water and sanitation

In the run-up to Rio+20, Canada became one of the last Western nations to drop its opposition to a reference to water and sanitation as a human right in the zero draft outcome document The Future We Want [1]. This was achieved by an international lobby led by the likes of Maude Barlow’s Council of Canadians and UN Special Rapporteur Catarina de Albuquerque.

Maude Barlow. Photo: Council of Canadians

Until a month ago, Canada was the only country to publicly claim there was no legal basis for the right to water and call for deletion of paragraph 67, which referred to this right, from the Rio+20 document, said Anil Naidoo of the Council of Canadians’ Blue Planet Project.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution in July 2010 recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right [2] and on 30 September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council recognised the right as legally binding in international law [3].

At the initial Rio+20 negotiations last year, several human rights and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned that the human right to water and sanitation was under threat. This started when the UK, working inside the European Union (EU), first proposed to delete paragraph 67 from the zero draft.

Catarina de Albuquerque. Photo: OHCHR

After pressure from several international NGOs and an appeal [4] by Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque, the EU backed down and other governments pushed back against the UK, notably Spain, said Naidoo.

But still, Canada, later joined by the United States and Israel, continued to call for deletion of paragraph 67. Intense lobbying, supported by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, who called for human rights to be protected in the Rio negotiations [5], finally convinced Canada to drop its opposition to the recognition of water and sanitation as a human right.

[1] Rio+20 - The Future We Want – Zero draft of the outcome document

[2] Right to water and sanitation: UN General Assembly passes landmark resolution, E-Source, 08 Sep 2010

[3] Right to water and sanitation: finally declared legally binding in international law, E-Source, 19 Oct 2010

[4] Rio+20: “Do not betray your commitments on the human right to water and sanitation”, OHCHR, 22 Mar 2012

[5] Navanethem Pillay, Open Letter, OHCHR, 30 Mar 2012

Related web sites:

• Council of Canadians – Right to Water – Blue Planet Project
• OHCHR – Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation

Source: Thalif Deen, Canada, Last Holdout, Drops Opposition to Water as Human Right, IPS, 31 May 2012

UN Human Rights Council affirms that right to water and sanitation is legally binding

The UN Human Rights Council has finally recognised the right to water and sanitation as legally binding in international law, in a landmark decision adopted on 30 September 2010.

[T]he UN affirmed [...] by consensus that the right to water and sanitation is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, which is contained in several international human rights treaties. While experts working with the UN human rights system have long acknowledged this, it was the first time that the Human Rights Council has declared itself on the issue.

According to the UN Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, “this means that for the UN, the right to water and sanitation, is contained in existing human rights treaties and is therefore legally binding”. She added that “this landmark decision has the potential to change the lives of the billions of human beings who still lack access to water and sanitation.”

Human rights: obligations related to private and other non-state service provision in water and sanitation

The human rights framework does not express a preference for public or private models for the provision of water and sanitation services, as long as the human rights to water and sanitation are guaranteed. This is one of the main conclusions of the latest report [1] by the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque. She calls for a more nuanced, less ideological and emotional, debate that acknowledges that wide variety of actors and arrangements, which are rarely exclusively public or private, in service delivery.

Ms De Albuquerque has a three-year mandate (2008-2011) to provide recommendations on the right to water and sanitation to the UN Human Rights Council. Each year she focuses on one or more specific issues. For 2010 Ms De Albuquerque chose the contentious issue of private sector participation in the provision of water and sanitation services.

UN Expert to study Japan’s key role as biggest international donor to water and sanitation projects

Ms Catarina de Albuquerque, Independent Expert

UN independent expert Catarina de Albuquerque will visit Japan from 20-28 July 2010 to collect first hand information and talk with the authorities about the steps taken to ensure that the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation are guaranteed in its territory, as well as the extent to which these rights are promoted through official development aid.

“Japan is the biggest donor in the water and sanitation sectors and its actions have a crucial role for promoting enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation worldwide,” said the Independent Expert designated by the UN Human Rights Council to examine the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

“This mission will particularly consider the situation of the most vulnerable groups with a special emphasis on the human rights principles of equality, non-discrimination, participation and accountability,” Ms. de Albuquerque said. During her first visit to Japan, she will also focus on issues such as sanitation in remote areas of the country and the challenges to maintenance and improvement of infrastructure.

As human rights, all people, without discrimination, must have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, which is affordable, acceptable, available and safe. States must continually take steps to ensure that access to these fundamental rights is guaranteed.

Ms. de Albuquerque will meet with Government officials, water and wastewater operators, and representatives from civil society and academia. Besides official Government meetings in the capital, Tokyo, she will also visit Kyoto and Osaka. Her findings and recommendations will be presented in a report to the Human Rights Council.

A press conference will be held at the United Nations Information Center in Tokyo, on 28 July at 15:00.

Catarina de Albuquerque is a Portuguese lawyer currently working as a senior legal adviser at the Office for Documentation and Comparative Law (an independent institution under the Portuguese Prosecutor General’s Office) in the area of human rights. She holds a DES in international relations with a specialization in international law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. She was appointed as Independent Expert in September 2008 and took up her functions in November 2008.

Source: OHCHR, 16 Jul 2010

U.N. rights experts call for proper toilets in prisons

People held in jails and other detention centres around the world frequently have no access to clean toilets; a violation of their basic human rights, three United Nations investigators said Wednesday.

In statements marking World Toilet Day, marked on November 19 since 2001, they said states and governments had the obligation to ensure that all prisoners could enjoy safe sanitation.

“Without it, detention conditions are inhumane, and contrary to the basic human dignity that underpins all human rights,” the investigators — on torture, access to water and sanitation, and the right to the best possible health, declared jointly.

World Toilet Day is promoted by the World Toilet Organization, founded in 2001 by Singapore entrepreneur Jack Sim as a global non-profit network aiming to improve sanitation and public health policies.

“In too many places, detainees in prisons, migrant detention centres, juvenile institutions, psychiatric hospitals and other state-run institutions are forgotten,” said Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Anand Grover, rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, said unsanitary conditions “directly cause many diseases rife in places of detention.

“Access to sanitation is fundamental for a life in dignity, which all people are entitled to,” declared Catarina de Albuquerque, U.N. independent expert on human rights and access to sanitation.

“Even those convicted of heinous crimes must enjoy such basis rights,” she added.

Read the full OHCHR World Toilet Day statement.

Source: Jon Hemming, Reuters, 19 Nov 2009 [based on the UN news press release]