Human Rights and Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

A/HRC/RES/12/8No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2009.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2008–2010

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/15/9

2010A/HRC/RES/15/9Human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitationLatestCompare with previous version
2009A/HRC/RES/12/8Human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitationCompare with previous version
2008A/HRC/RES/7/22Human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

16 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the work of the independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, including the undertaking of country missions;

Acknowledges with appreciation the independent expert’s first annual report (A/HRC/12/24), including her recommendations and the clarifications with regard to the content of human rights obligations in the access to sanitation, proposing, inter alia, the categories of availability, quality, physical accessibility, affordability and acceptability;

Recognizes that States have an obligation to address and eliminate discrimination with regard to access to sanitation, and urges them to address effectively inequalities in this area;

Calls upon States:

To create an enabling environment to address the issue of lack of sanitation at all levels, including, where appropriate, by budgeting, legislation, the establishment of regulatory, monitoring and accountability frameworks and mechanisms, the assignment of clear institutional responsibilities and the appropriate inclusion of sanitation in national poverty reduction strategies and development plans;

To collect, at the appropriate level, current, accurate and detailed information about sanitation coverage in the country and the characteristics of unserved and underserved households, and to make this information available to all stakeholders;

To develop, where appropriate, national and/or local plans of action, in cooperation with other stakeholders, in order to address the lack of access to sanitation in a comprehensive way, giving due consideration to wastewater management, including treatment and reuse;

To ensure and promote access to information for, and the full, free and meaningful participation of, local communities in the design, implementation and monitoring of the above mentioned plans of action;

To adopt a gender-sensitive approach to all relevant policymaking in the light of the special sanitation needs of women and girls;

To organize or otherwise support, as appropriate, large-scale public awareness campaigns promoting behaviour change in sanitation and to provide information, in particular on hygiene promotion;

Recognizes the important contribution of the private sector when addressing the issue of access to sanitation;

Stresses the important role of international cooperation and technical assistance played by the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, international and development partners as well as donor agencies, and therefore the need that more should be done when mobilizing resources to support effectively the efforts of States to address the lack of access to sanitation, and urges development partners to adopt a human rights-based approach when designing relevant development programmes in support of national initiatives and plans of action;

Requests the independent expert to continue to report, on an annual basis, to the Council and to submit an annual report to the General Assembly;

Notes with appreciation the cooperation extended to date to the independent expert by different actors, and calls upon all States to continue to cooperate with the independent expert in the discharge of her mandate and to respond favourably to her requests for information and visits;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to ensure that the independent expert receives the necessary resources to enable her to discharge her mandate fully;

Decides to continue its consideration of this matter under the same agenda item and in accordance with its programme of work.

Paragraph content is machine-extracted from UN documents. For authoritative content, please refer to the official UN document.

No headings found in this document.

Human Rights and Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

Who created this mandate?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What does this mandate say?

Table of contents