In her remarks on World Toilet Day, Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, called for the post-2015 development agenda to include a specific goal on water, sanitation and hygiene that emphasizes sustainable water and sanitation for all.
19 November 2012: In recognition of World Toilet Day, on November 19, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, declared that eliminating inequities should start with toilets. De Albuquerque stressed that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target on access to sanitation will not be met by 2015, and recommended a specific water, sanitation and hygiene goal in the post-2015 development agenda.
De Albuquerque called for reflection on lingering smells in urban areas that lack a proper sewer system. She said more than one billion people still practice open defecation and drew attention to the “insecurity and indignity” of having to find a secluded toilet spot when no toilet exists.
De Albuquerque highlighted challenges in achieving access to sanitation, noting that the MDG target on access to sanitation is the most off-track MDG target. She said an estimated 7,500 people, the majority of them children under five years old, die every day due to a lack of sanitation. She also noted that an estimated 272 million school days are missed due to water-borne or sanitation-related diseases and that many employees also miss work days due to such diseases. She stressed that access to basic sanitation is “critical for the enjoyment of numerous other rights,” including rights to education, health, work and leading a life in dignity. She said that most people who lack access to adequate sanitation are those who are impoverished, marginalized or otherwise excluded.
In her report to the 67th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), de Albuquerque recommends a specific goal on water, sanitation and hygiene in the post-2015 development agenda. The report calls for placing sanitation concerns on equal footing with other key priority areas for development. It further emphasizes “sustainable water and sanitation for all, without discrimination.”
Catarina de Albuquerque was appointed by the UN Human Right Council in 2008 as the first Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation. [UN Press Release]