Chapter X.12: The human rights to water and sanitation

Abstract

The human right to water offers a strong legal tool for empowering millions of people living without safe drinking water around the world by creating legal obligations and standards for universal access to safe drinking water. The human right to sanitation creates legal obligations and standards for progressive improvement of access for the billions of people living without a basic level of sanitation services and the millions depending on open defecation. Both rights have evolved through closely linked processes at the international level, with implications for water and sanitation governance processes at the national level. This chapter analyses the co-evolution of the human rights to water and sanitation and the legal foundations of the rights at the international level, while highlighting the relationship between the rights and discussing the unique developments which each right has experienced. The chapter also considers the implementation challenges and justiciability issues that will shape the future development of both rights at the international and national levels.