How do rights to water and sanitation strengthen WASH system?

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Celebrating 10 years of human rights to water and sanitation

-Binesh Roy

The UN officially explicitly recognised access to water and sanitation as human rights on 28 July 2010, requiring application of the principles of equality, participation, accountability, sustainability and access to information on water and sanitation services.It is already 10 years after the human rights to water and sanitation were first recognised and with 10 years to go until the promise of SDG 6 would be fulfilled.Over the past decade many of the countries have made significant progress in fulfilling the rights to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and have included it in their constitutions.

 

But what value does it add to use a human rights approach to work on improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)? In particular, what difference does it make to federal and local government officials transferring those rights to the citizens? Local governments are the duty bearers on the front line; they have the most immediate responsibility to implement the rights to water and sanitation, and are most accessible to the rights-holders living in their area and to the civil society organisations who work with people to help them claim their rights.

For people living in rich countries, where heavily regulated utilities supply the population with water and collect and treat wastewater, rights to water and sanitation are mainly covered by enforceable domestic laws and regulations.Independent inspectorates and robust complaints mechanisms ensure service providers can be held accountable to service users.But for people living in countries with very poor access to water and sanitation services, it is a different picture. For the nearly 2.4 billion people without access to adequate sanitation, and 663 million without access to clean water, these systems are often not in place. The lack of access is due to lack of capacity and resources in the sector, weak demand by service users, and poor accountability of service providers to users – their rights are neither demanded nor fulfilled.

The human rights framework clearly assigns responsibilities – people have the rights to water and sanitation services, and governments are duty bound to realise them. But what does that mean in practical terms for government, especially local government officials, who are closest to the people? How can the human rights actually help local officials to reach everyone, even when they have very limited resources and capacities?With more countries integrating human rights to water and sanitation into national systems there is an opportunity to explore the difference this can make to both providers and users of water and sanitation services.

 

In 2015, Nepal as a member of the UN has committed to adhere SDGs targets, that means Nepal government is fully committed to make sure that SDGs goals will be achieved. The SDG goal number 6 states thateverybody will have and use good sustainable services for water and sanitation by 2030 – no matter where they live or who they are. Good services mean that everyone can access them, can afford the cost of the services, and that the service is safe and acceptable for all users.  Government is responsible for ensuring that this commitment become a reality, as quickly as possible, using all possible financial and human resources. Although Nepal has achieved 91% population with basic water services, only 25% have safely managed water facilities which is huge gaps to be fulfilled by 2030 (target is 90% ). Likewise, JMP report shows that about 15 million population do not have a basic handwashing facility with soap and water at home.

Over the years, the government has created several initiatives for the WASH sector. The 20 years’ Water and Sanitation Strategies, which was formulated in 1997, the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Policy and Strategy 2004, the National Policy for Urban Water Supply and Sanitation in 2009, and the Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan were some of the programs implemented by the government. Now, a Sectoral Development Plan (2017-2030), designed by the Ministry of Water Supply, is under implementation in line with the SDG of ensuring access to safe, adequate and affordable drinking water and sanitation services to all by 2030.

All the local governments, civil societies, private sectors whose roles and responsibilities are  as a duty bearer need to identify and address the systematic challenges they face in realising the human rights to WASH for all, during normal period or disaster period or the current Covid-19 pandemic situation. By applying human rights principals guide duty bearers to be more inclusive, more sustainable by empowering and increasing the dignity of most vulnerable and marginalised communities and protecting and saving their lives now and in the future. Some of the tested human rights principle that can be applied by the local government are:

Based on the principle of equality and non-discrimination the need of all the poor and marginalised people can be fulfilled by prioritizing the activities in the periodic plan.

♠ Based on principle of access to information the information about WASH services and plan can be made in relevant languages and freely available to everyone affected.

♠ Based on the principle on the participation, it can be made sure that people can take part in decision about WASH services, so that it could be clearly understood how to meet their needs.

♠ Based on the principle of accountability, it can be made sure that people can report any problem with their WASH services, and it helps service providers to carry out regular checks.

♠ Based on the principle of sustainability it can be made sure that available services are sustainable so that WASH services keep running every day of the year and will continue to do so in the long term.

In conclusion, both federal and local governments have an obligation to ensure the progressive realisation of human rights by putting concrete plans and honestly implementing it to ensure that sustainable services reach to everyone. All the national and international supporting agencies need to work together with government to strengthen the system, process and necessary institutions that are needed to ensure sustainable services are easily accessible to all citizens. An effective government led WASH services monitoring is required to track progress which need to be evidence-based planning, budgeting and quality service delivery based on reliable data for better decision-making process.

Sources:

roy.binesh@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

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