GenevaThe workshop on equitable access to water and sanitation organized under the leadership of the Government of France, with the support of the UNECE secretariat of the Protocol on Water and Health, and in cooperation with the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, will be held in Geneva on 4-5 July 2011.
Different stakeholders responsible for or involved in the process of developing policies, programmes and measures for ensuring access to water and sanitation in the pan-European region, including governmental representatives, water and health managers, local authorities and representatives of academia, research institutes, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, will meet with the aim to exchange information and discuss good practices on how to ensure equitable access to water and sanitation for all.
The access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation was declared by the UN General Assembly as a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights (GA/10967 adopted on 28 July 2010). In addition, the Human Rights Council affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties, and that States have the primary responsibility to ensure its full realization.
Yet, in the pan-European region there are 140 million people without access to safe drinking water and even more without access to sanitation. These figures hide important inequities. First of all, countries with economies in transition have lower levels of access to water and sanitation compared with Western European ones. But there are also severe inequities within countries:
• Geographical disparities: in many countries people living in rural or remote areas have significantly lower levels of access to safe water and improved sanitation;
• Affordability constraints: in some countries, people with low incomes often find access to water and sanitation unaffordable; this situation will be exacerbated as countries move towards full cost recovery of water and sanitation services;
• Inequities suffered by vulnerable and marginalized groups, as well as groups with specific needs (such as Roma and Travellers, ethnic minorities, disabled persons, etc.) who face additional barriers to access than those of ordinary citizens.
The participants of the workshop will discuss the specific challenges and debate the political, economic and practical implications of equitable access to water and sanitation. The workshop will contribute to identify good practices, success factors and lessons learned and will be an important step forward in the process of promoting equitable access to water and sanitation.
For more information, please visit the web site of UNECE: Workshop website at http://www.unece.org/env/water/meetings/equitable_access_workshop.html
Contacts:
Ms. Francesca Bernardini
Co-Secretary of the Protocol on Water and Health
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Environment Division
Tel.: +41 (0)22 917 24 63
E-mail: [email protected]
Ms. Franziska Hirsch
Environmental Affairs Officer
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Environment Division
Tel.: +41 22 917 24 80
E-mail: [email protected]
Note to editors:
The Protocol on Water and Health to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) was signed in London in 1999, on the occasion of the third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health. It entered into force on 4 August 2005.
The Protocol counts 24 Parties (Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine).
The Protocol aims to provide universal access to water supply and sanitation while the quality of the water supplied should be adequate and does not constitute a potential danger to human health (art.4). This shall include the protection of water resources which are used as sources of drinking water, treatment of water and the establishment, improvement and maintenance of collective systems. To this aim, the Protocol requires Parties to take positive measures to assist individuals and communities to enjoy access to safe water and adequate sanitation, measures which are tailored to the countries’ social, economic and environmental conditions. Moreover, the Protocol includes far-reaching provisions on public information, public participation and access to justice, public awareness and education. It also includes provisions on international duty of solidarity requiring Parties to assist each other to achieve the objectives of the Protocol.
The Protocol also contains provisions on non-discrimination. In particular, article 5 requires that “equitable access to water, adequate in terms both of quantity and of quality, should be provided for all members of the population, especially those who suffer a disadvantage or social exclusion”. The Protocol thus illustrates and embodies the close linkages between human rights, health, environmental protection and sustainable development.
The Protocol relates directly the achievement of various Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 4 (to reduce child mortality) and Goal 7 (to ensure environmental sustainability, in particular target 10 - halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation by 2015 – and target 11 - achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020).
Various activities of the Protocol’s programme of work directly relate to water and sanitation as human right. These include a workshop on equitable access to water held in Paris in July 2007 and other activities in this area led by France as well as activities in the area of small scale water supply systems in the European region. A Roundtable on "The Human Right to Water and the Protocol on Water and Health: making access to water a reality", was jointly organized by WHO-EURO, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNECE, on the occasion of the first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol in January 2007 in Geneva.
Ref: ECE/ENV/11/P30
Contacts:
Ms. Francesca Bernardini
Co-Secretary of the Protocol on Water and Health
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Environment Division
Tel.: +41 (0)22 917 24 63
E-mail: [email protected]
Ms. Franziska Hirsch
Environmental Affairs Officer
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Environment Division
Tel.: +41 22 917 24 80
E-mail: [email protected]
Note to editors:
The Protocol on Water and Health to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) was signed in London in 1999, on the occasion of the third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health. It entered into force on 4 August 2005.
The Protocol counts 24 Parties (Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine).
The Protocol aims to provide universal access to water supply and sanitation while the quality of the water supplied should be adequate and does not constitute a potential danger to human health (art.4). This shall include the protection of water resources which are used as sources of drinking water, treatment of water and the establishment, improvement and maintenance of collective systems. To this aim, the Protocol requires Parties to take positive measures to assist individuals and communities to enjoy access to safe water and adequate sanitation, measures which are tailored to the countries’ social, economic and environmental conditions. Moreover, the Protocol includes far-reaching provisions on public information, public participation and access to justice, public awareness and education. It also includes provisions on international duty of solidarity requiring Parties to assist each other to achieve the objectives of the Protocol.
The Protocol also contains provisions on non-discrimination. In particular, article 5 requires that “equitable access to water, adequate in terms both of quantity and of quality, should be provided for all members of the population, especially those who suffer a disadvantage or social exclusion”. The Protocol thus illustrates and embodies the close linkages between human rights, health, environmental protection and sustainable development.
The Protocol relates directly the achievement of various Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 4 (to reduce child mortality) and Goal 7 (to ensure environmental sustainability, in particular target 10 - halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation by 2015 – and target 11 - achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020).
Various activities of the Protocol’s programme of work directly relate to water and sanitation as human right. These include a workshop on equitable access to water held in Paris in July 2007 and other activities in this area led by France as well as activities in the area of small scale water supply systems in the European region. A Roundtable on "The Human Right to Water and the Protocol on Water and Health: making access to water a reality", was jointly organized by WHO-EURO, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNECE, on the occasion of the first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol in January 2007 in Geneva.
Ref: ECE/ENV/11/P30