1. The human rights to Water and Sanitation : Progress in theory and practice
Léo Heller
Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU)
Business Faculty, University of Greenwich
13 June 2016

2. Legal basis for the human rights to water and sanitation
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 25(1)), 1948
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 11), 1966/76
Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 24(2)(h))
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (art. 14(2)(h))
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (art. 18 (2)(a))
General Comment 15, 2002
UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions 292/64 and 15/9 (2010), respectively
Human Rights Council resolution 24/41 affirmed the normative content of the HR to water and sanitation

3. What do the rights to WATSAN mean?
The human right to
sanitation provides for
physical and affordable access in all spheres of life,
safe, hygienic, secure services,
socially and culturally acceptable,
providing privacy and dignity.
The human right to
water ensures
sufficient,
safe,
acceptable,
physically accessible,
affordable water,
for personal and domestic uses.

4. Normative content of the rights to water and sanitation
AVAILABILITY: sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses; within immediate vicinity
QUALITY: safe for consumption and other personal uses; hygienically and technically safe to use
ACCESSIBILITY: to everyone without discrimination, within the immediate vicinity
AFFORDABILITY: price must be affordable for all without compromising the ability to secure other essential necessities guaranteed by human rights
ACCEPTABILITY: culturally acceptable and gender-specific, and to ensure privacy and dignity

5. Human rights principles
Equality and non-discrimination:
Everyone is equal before the law; prohibition of arbitrary differences of treatment
Participation and inclusion: Every person is entitled to active, free and meaningful participation in and contribution to decision-making processes affecting them
Accountability:
State and other duty-bearers should be accountable for the fulfillment of their obligations
Progressive realization and maximum use of available resources:
All States must take appropriate measures towards the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights to the maximum of their available resources

6. MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
(MDGs)

7. MDG target on water But …
Still 663 million people worldwide (9%) lack access to an improved drinking water source.
Piped water into dwelling
Piped water to yard/plot
Public tap or standpipe
Tubewell or borehole
Protected dug well
Protected spring 
Rainwater
In 2010, the MDG target on water was reached.
Water quality?
Water quantity?
Continuity?
Affordability?
Schools and health facilities?
Gender issues?

8. MDG target on water But … Inequalities
Rich vs. poor,
Urban vs. rural,
Formal vs. informal settlements,
Disadvantaged groups vs. general public,
Gender,
Global North & South
In 2010, the MDG target on water was reached.
Water quality?
Water quantity?
Continuity?
Affordability?
Schools and health facilities?
Gender issues?

9. MDG target on sanitation
Sanitation is one of the most off-track targets of the MDGs.
2.4 billion people (32%) do not have access to improved sanitation, 70 per cent of which live in rural areas.
Around 1 billion people practice open defecation.
1.6 million people, mostly children under the age of 5, die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases.

10. MDG target on sanitation
Improved sanitation
Flush toilet
Piped sewer system
Septic tank
Flush/pour flush to pit latrine
Ventilated improved
pit latrine (VIP)
Pit latrine with slab
Composting toilet
Schools and health facilities?
Disposal?
Inequalities?

11. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
(SDGs)

12. SDGs endorse the human rights based approach
“A world where we reaffirm our commitments regarding the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation and where there is improved hygiene” (“Transforming Our World”)
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Target 6.1  By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
Target 6.2  By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation,
paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.

13. Intersections between the SDGs
Achieving Goal 6 implies realization of other SDGs...
End poverty and hunger everywhere
Combat inequalities within and among countries
Build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies
Protect human rights and promote gender equality
Empower women and girls

14. Monitoring intersectional inequalities
The SDGs must go beyond identifying inequality by wealth quintiles
The world’s poorest are disproportionately characterized by one or several exclusionary or discriminatory grounds
Gender
Disability
Caste
Ethnicity
Laws, policies, lengthy administrative procedures can also negatively impact on access to water and sanitation services.
Eg. Slum dwellers may not be poor, but may lack security of tenure

15. “Safely managed” vs. “Basic” services
The SDG agenda proposes this differentiation, which specifically refers to the quality of water and sanitation services
But it could also be used to refer to differences in the cost of accessing water and sanitation. For example, people in informal settlements often pay more for a worse level of service than those living in formal settlements.
Monitoring affordability alone will not expose such inequalities

16. Incorporating disaggregated indicators
The human rights to water and sanitation and the human rights principles of non-discrimination and equality inform the framework for monitoring inequalities
The END Working Group suggests a metric comparing advantaged groups with disadvantaged groups. In the following areas of monitoring:
Wealth quintile analysis
Geographic disparities
a) rural-urban
b) intra-urban
Group-related inequalities (e.g. based on race, ethnicity and migratory status)
Intra-household inequalities (e.g. based on sex, age and disability)
Service provision must also be monitored in institutions, the workplace and public spaces

17. Progressive elimination of inequalities =
Progressive realisation of human rights
Progress among both groups can be followed. Disparity should ideally diminish through time
The world’s most disadvantaged groups must be given priority

18. A few key issues to applying the human rights based approach

19. 2015 Report to UN Human Rights Council:
Affordability
Costs associated with water, sanitation and hygiene
Understanding affordability
Mechanisms for ensuring affordability in practice
4. Regulation and Monitoring
Different types of costs (direct, indirect)
Costs of: corruption, poor governance, inaction.
Defining affordability, setting standards
Environmental & economic sustainability
Disconnections & unaffordable services
Public finance: who benefits, who doesn’t?
Targeting most disadvantaged
Different types of subsidies & tariff schemes
Social protection floors
Participation

20. 2015 Report to UN General Assembly:
Types of WSS services &
Management models
Connection to piped network
Communal or shared facilities
Individual on-site solutions
Formal entity managing predominantly large scale piped systems
Small scale provider, NGO, or community-level management recognized by the State
Small scale provider, NGO, or community-level management not recognized by the State
Self-managed service

21. 2016 Report to UN Human Rights Council:
Gender
Substantive equality
Adopting gender-responsive measures
Intersectionality and multiple forms of disadvantages
Participation & empowerment
Accountability

22. 1. Wealth Quintiles JMP has done significant work in this area:
Trend analysis showing progress in wealth quintiles over time (1995 to 2010/2012).
Data on correlations between access to WASH among the poorest wealth quintiles and groups that are marginalized on other grounds
Suggested recommendations
Include disaggregation by wealth quintile as systematic disaggregation in all future JMP reports (including through improving data availability)
Include trend analysis over time for all countries where data is available
Include more examples of correlations between wealth quintile analysis and marginalization on the basis of ethnicity etc.
Include GLAAS analysis of policy and financing strategies that could be leading to better outcomes in access for the poorest wealth quintiles (using concrete outcomes to compare outcome and policy / funding)

23. 2a. Urban / rural inequalities
One of the areas of most pervasive inequalities in access to WASH
Reporting was consistent through MDGs and must continue to be monitored
Suggested recommendations
Future distinction of “safely managed” and “basic” services should be reflected in the inequalities analysis
Examine GLAAS data on policy and funding strategies in urban and rural areas to inform analysis of outcomes

24. 2b. (Urban) Formal vs. informal settlements
An important spatial dimension of access to WASH that is receiving growing attention, but requires much greater efforts
Definition of slums may not be conducive to measuring differential access. UN-Habitat should be discussed to coordinate definition
Suggested recommendations
Work with ICF Macro and UNICEF as administrators of respective surveys to consider over-sampling in slums, and add slums as a sampling stratum in the DHS and MICS.
Encourage use of special slum surveys by national governments and other stakeholders such as local authorities and slum dweller organizations.
Explore the use of spatial analysis, new technologies (mobile phones) and crowd-sourcing to expand data collection and monitoring
Analyse intra-urban inequalities in access to different levels of service
Use GLAAS data to identify policy or funding strategies that may be leading to improved outcomes for people living in informal settlements.

25. 3. Group-related inequalities: Disadvantaged groups vs
3. Group-related inequalities: Disadvantaged groups vs. ‘majority’ populations
Race
National or social origin
Colour
Ethnicity
Language
Descent
Religion
Migratory status
Caste
Minority groups exist in virtually all countries, but discrimination manifests itself differently virtually everywhere
WASH-related impacts of discrimination against minorities or marginalized groups are often closely related to income-related impacts, but they are not the same.
More data should be collected on disadvantaged groups via a participatory process to obtain country-specific definitions of discrimination
Suggested recommendations
Further explore the use of existing data on group-related inequalities and report more systematically where data is available from household surveys
Choose pilot countries to initiate a participatory process for the identification of disadvantaged groups for monitoring inequalities
Explore linkage of these processes to other SDGs, such as Goal 10

26. 4. Intra-household inequalities
Are particularly complex due to the nature of household surveys that use the household—not the individual—as unit of analysis
Beyond disparities in access to WASH services, such inequalities relate to:
Particular burdens (e.g. water collection)
Particular risks (e.g. risk of assault)
Particular needs (e.g. menstrual hygiene)
While we know more and more regarding inequalities related to water collection, much less is known about those concerning sanitation and hygiene
Suggested recommendations
Consider including a question in household surveys that captures actual use of sanitation facilities by all members of the household
Consider including a question in household surveys that captures whether women and girls can adequately manage their menstrual hygiene at home
Consider other data sources for monitoring intra-household inequalities
Consider using GLAAS data on policies and budgets relating to menstrual hygiene and intra-household inequalities more broadly

27. Broader questions to be addressed

28. For further information… Thank you