Why is it important for sanitation to be recognised as a human right?

We all understand that without access to basic services, a life in health and dignity for the individual, as well as sustainable human and economic development in a society is impossible. From Japan to the European Union and to the United States, people in the developed world take clean water and sanitation for granted. But across the world too many people are still denied access to these basic human rights.

Why is the recent recognition of the right to sanitation considered to be an important shift?

Recognising the right to sanitation will strongly enhance the ability of marginalized people to hold their governments accountable for their actions and help them gain access to sanitation in a participatory manner.

Is focusing efforts on the right to sanitation an effective way to accelerate progress towards the sanitation MDG target?

A stronger focus on human rights is crucial to add quality control to the MDG process. At present, efforts towards reaching the MDGs are almost completely focused on meeting aggregated quantitative criteria. A human rights based approach to sanitation can help to identify the causes of poverty, rather than simply try to tackle the symptoms through provision of programmes and education that may not be inclusive and thus fail to meet the needs of the poorest. All the other MDGs are now seen as rights. Leaving out sanitation from the list of recognised rights – and in effect treating sanitation as a discretionary privilege – can only further reduce the importance of sanitation.

Seeking agreement on a definition of sanitation is likely to be time-consuming so why spend valuable time discussing it?

Sanitation is a term often used loosely. It is important for governments to engage in a vigorous discussion as to what they mean by committing to sanitation. All too often, sanitation is understood only to mean access to a toilet, neglecting the important of excreta management and hygiene promotion.

Would the recognition of sanitation as a right undermine efforts towards its realisation?

Quite the opposite! The discussion on the right to water, for example, is still ongoing, but it clearly has not derailed ongoing programmes. If anything, the discussion about a right to water has helped to raise the priority of the issue.  

Is there a danger that a recognition of the right to sanitation could lead to supply-led sanitation programming?

Increasingly, sanitation initiatives focus on communities rather than individual households – in an effort to produce defecation-free settlements and intensive use of sanitation facilities. In these circumstances, the risk of not using latrines once constructed is much lower, particularly where hygiene and sanitation improvements go hand-in-hand.

The rights-based approach to sanitation is instrumental in this process. It is used by many of our members to support communities in claiming their rights and assessing and voicing their actual need or ‘demand’ for services and appropriate technology options. In this way, the human right to sanitation – with its focus on community participation, access to information for all, transparency and accountability – does not interfere with demand-led interventions, it fosters them!

What we are pressing for is not merely recognition of the human right to sanitation in a document but the realization of this right in practice.

Through decades of work across continents, our members have learned that in order for this legal right to translate into safer, healthier living conditions, citizens must be made aware of their rights, how to claim these rights and what responsibilities they have as rights holders.

Recognition of the right to sanitation, on paper, can be the basis of and a catalyst for this entire process. 

Read the report of the Independent Expert on the Human Rights Council website

Read FAN’s submission to the Independent Expert (wb 177)