A/HRC/RES/12/8
page 2
Taking note with interest of regional commitments and initiatives promoting the further
realization of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation,
including in the Protocol on Water and Health, adopted by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe in 1999, the European Charter on Water Resources, adopted by the
Council of Europe in 2001, the Abuja Declaration, adopted at the first Africa-South America
summit in 2006, the message from Beppu, adopted at the first Asian-Pacific Water Summit
in 2007, the Delhi Declaration, adopted at the third South Asian Conference on Sanitation
in 2008, and the Cairo Declaration, adopted at the fifteenth summit of Heads of State and
Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2009,
Bearing in mind the commitments made by the international community to achieve fully
the Millennium Development Goals, and stressing, in that context, the resolve of Heads of State
and Government, as expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, to halve, by 2015,
the proportion of people unable to reach or afford safe drinking water, and to halve the
proportion of people without access to basic sanitation, as agreed in the Johannesburg Plan of
Action,
Deeply concerned that approximately 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water
and that over 2.5 billion do not have access to basic sanitation,
Reaffirming the fact that international human rights law instruments, including the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the
Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entail obligations for States
parties in relation to access to safe drinking water and sanitation,
Welcoming the consultation with the independent expert on the issue of human rights
obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation on 29 April 2009,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 61/192 of 20 December 2006, in which the
Assembly declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation,
1.
Welcomes the work of the independent expert on the issue of human rights
obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, including the undertaking of
country missions;
2.
Acknowledges with appreciation the independent expert’s first annual report
(A/HRC/12/24), including her recommendations and the clarifications with regard to the content
of human rights obligations in the access to sanitation, proposing, inter alia, the categories of
availability, quality, physical accessibility, affordability and acceptability;
3.
Recognizes that States have an obligation to address and eliminate discrimination
with regard to access to sanitation, and urges them to address effectively inequalities in this area;
4.
Calls upon States:
(a) To create an enabling environment to address the issue of lack of sanitation at all
levels, including, where appropriate, by budgeting, legislation, the establishment of regulatory,
monitoring and accountability frameworks and mechanisms, the assignment of clear institutional