On the 28 October, Kolleen Bouchane, FAN's Advocacy Action and Learning Officer, along with other civil society representatives met with officials from the UK Department for International Development and the UK Foreign Office to discuss the UK Government position on the right to sanitation.
Earlier in the year, during the UN Independent Expert's consultation on sanitation, the UK government had articulated their position on the right to sanitation:
'The UK does not currently consider there to be a sufficient legal basis under international law to recognise the right to sanitation, either as a free-standing right or as a right deriving from other rights.'
Read the UK government's written submission
Read more about the Independent Expert's consultation
Following this, as the Independent Expert worked to prepare her report for the Human Rights Council, several CSO representatives sent letters (available on request) to both the UK Foreign Office and DFID requesting a meeting to discuss the UK position.
The meeting that eventually took place was the first time that DFID, the Foreign office and members of civil society have sat together to specifically discuss the UK position on the right to sanitation.
This is credit to the momentum created by the Independent Expert's focus on sanitation this year as well as the efforts of civil society, including many FAN members, over the years.
The Independent Expert presented her report endorsing sanitation as a human right during the 12th session of the Human Rights Council and several informal discussions followed between UK government officials and civil society advocates for recognition of the right to sanitation preceding the official meeting between DFID, the Foreign office and members of civil society.
Kolleen said of the meeting:
"It was a very open and collegial meeting, in which we had a wide ranging and honest conversation where we made our position in favor of recognition of the right to sanitation clear. We did by no means resolve this issue, but we did open a dialogue that we plan to continue and I personally have a much greater understanding of the specific obstacles we are facing at least in the context of the UK."