The United Nations General Assembly recognized water to be a
basic human right on July 28, 2010. Resolution 64/292 proclaims that states and
international organizations must provide financial resources, help capacity-building
and technology transfer to help countries, namely developing countries, to
provide safe, clean, accessible, and affordable drinking water and sanitation
for all.
The water must be sufficient and continuous for personal and
domestic use. This would include water for drinking, personal sanitation,
washing of clothes, food preparation, and personal and household hygiene. The
World Health Organization states that this sufficient and continuous water
supply is between 50 and 100 liters of water per person per day.
The water must be safe. This means the water is free from
microorganisms, chemical substances, and radiological hazards that constitute a
threat to a person’s health.
The water must be acceptable meaning in color, odor, and
taste for each personal and domestic use. This means that water facilities and
services pertaining to water must be culturally appropriate as well as
sensitive to gender, lifecycle, and privacy. Sanitation facilities must be
separated by sex and must accommodate common hygiene practices. Feminine
hygiene products must have a place of disposal.
Water must be physically accessible. This means water must
be within immediate vicinity of the household, educational institution,
workplace of health institution. Physically accessibility of water includes
easy-reach facilities found by safe paths and facilities located within a safe
area. Water must be easily extracted and adapted for to the needs of older
persons, those with disabilities, the chronically ill, and pregnant women.
The World Health Organization states that water
accessibility is within 1,000 meters of the persons and collection time should
not exceed 30 minutes.
Last, but not least, water should be affordable. The United
Nations Development Programme states that water should not exceed 3 percent of
household income.
States are required to translate the international human
rights to water and sanitation to the national level. This means that water and
sanitation rights have the potential to be claimed by those that need them.
This also makes the rights more enforceable by the national government.
Despite the fact that water and sanitation has now been
declared a basic human need, I do not believe that it is being treated as such
in many areas of the world. There have been various groups that advocate for
these water and sanitation needs, but water and poor sanitation is the world’s
second biggest killer of children. The average use for Europeans, 200 to 300
liters per person per day, is asinine compared to the 10 liters per person per
day in many developing countries. I find these numbers ridiculous and I am
ashamed of my own lackadaisical water usage from day to day. Water is still not
affordable in many areas of the world. Water is 5 to 10 times more expensive in
areas such as Jakarta, Manila, and Nairobi compared to those in developed
countries. I believe this is still a topic that many people know nothing about
and that would mean that many have no idea about these facts and figures. I
believe water and sanitation are a basic human right, but until these rights
are fully implemented, the world must be kept aware and keep working toward the
long-run goal. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml
http://www.righttowater.info/why-the-right-to-water-and-sanitation/the-right-to-water-a-legal-obligation/the-content-of-the-rights-explained/
http://www.righttowater.info/rights-in-practice/
