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Manual on the Right to
Water and Sanitation
There is growing interest in the contributions of human
rights to efforts to extend access to water and sanitation, but little
practical information is available at present on how this can be achieved.
The Manual on the Right to Water and Sanitation is designed to assist policy
makers and practitioners in implementing the human right to water and
sanitation.
The Manual addresses issues common to most economic, social
and cultural rights, including how to operationalise the requirements of
non-discrimination and attention to vulnerable and marginalised groups,
participation, international cooperation and affordability within government
programmes.
The Manual has been produced by the Centre on Housing Rights
and Evictions (COHRE), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC),
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Human
Rights Programme and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT).
This essential publication, written in non-legal language,
addresses the vital need to demonstrate how human rights can be practically
realised in the water and sanitation sector. The Manual demonstrates that
implementing the right to water and sanitation is not limited to legal
recognition or allocation of funds. Rather, it provides the basis for
practical reforms in many areas of water supply and sanitation and in water
resource management that can help make the water and sanitation sector
operate in a manner that is more pro-poor, accountable and inclusive.
The Manual will be useful for practical implementation as
it:
- Explains the key components of the right to water and
sanitation and their implications for governments.
- Describes a range of practical policy measures that
could be adopted by governments, in particular those in low-income
countries, to achieve the right to water and sanitation in the shortest
possible time.
- Illustrates examples of policy measures that have
been taken to achieve particular components of the right to water and
sanitation.
- Provides a checklist by which governments can assess
their achievements in relation to the right to water and sanitation.
- Describes the roles of
other actors, in particular, individuals and communities in contributing
to the achievement of the right to water and sanitation.
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