A/71/302
sanitation based on the world population in 1990 and 2015, and moreover did not
define which “half” of the countries’ populations should be prioritized .
54. It is clear that the various drivers for development cooperation in water and
sanitation in recent decades have been predominantly inspired by principles other
than the human rights framework and that the processes and outcomes of billions of
dollars invested in developing countries, particularly in the least developed
countries, have barely involved human rights-based interventions. Principles such as
equality and non-discrimination, access to information, participation, accountability
and sustainability have not been mainstreamed in the relevant policies. Nor has the
human rights principle of progressive realization using the maximum available
resources been a priority in a number of countries. Furthermore, some normative
content with respect to the human rights to water and sanitation has also been
neglected in those processes, especially affordability and acceptability, the former
having been impacted by cost-recovery policies attached to development
cooperation and the latter by the common practice of technology transfer without
due attention to the sociocultural preferences of the target populations. It is
important to emphasize that cultural acceptability must be defined by the rights holders, not the duty-bearers, so that levels and quality of access will not be
determined on the basis of the stereotypes held by entities linked to duty-bearers.
2.
Development cooperation after 2015
55. It is clear that the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals will
require unprecedented cooperation between countries and the development of strong
cooperation strategies and actions. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted at the
Third International Conference on Financing for Development and endorsed by the
General Assembly in 2015 (resolution 69/313), provides a comprehensive set of
policy actions by Member States, with a package of over 100 concrete measures to
finance sustainable development, transform the global economy and achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals.
56. A joint initiative of the Secretary-General and the World Bank Group created
the High-level Panel on Water to provide support in the implementation of the 2030
Agenda. The 10-member panel is comprised of Heads of State or Government; the
Panel has two special advisers. The declared aim of the Panel is the mobilization o f
action to accelerate the implementation of Goal 6 and its related targets.
57. In order to effectively incorporate the human rights to water and sanitation in
the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, particularly with respect to development
cooperation, an adequate architecture must be established to assist in the
formulation, guidance, management and support of the development agenda. That
architecture should ideally place the normative content of the human right s to water
and sanitation at the centre of the specific processes related to Goal 6 overall and
targets 6.1 and 6.2 specifically. The Panel should be acutely aware of the need to
base its recommendations in human rights principles and the normative content of
the human rights to water and sanitation, as outlined in the present report. In so
doing, the Panel should be able to duly address concerns raised by civil society
organizations regarding the possible propensity to predominantly favour a business oriented approach to the sector. 50 The establishment of an entity with greater
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See letter from the Blue Planet Project and others, available from http://blueplanetproject.net/
documents/bpp-unsg-letter-0416.pdf.
16-13590