The Evolution of the Right to Water and Sanitation: Differentiating the Implications

• Date: 01 April 2015
• Published date: 01 April 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12095
• Author: Pedi Obani,Joyeeta Gupta

The Evolution of the Right to Water and Sanitation:

Differentiating the Implications

Pedi Obani* and Joyeeta Gupta

Since 1980, the right to water has been seen mainly as

implicitly subsumed under other social human and

political rights. The global recognition of the need for

access to sanitation services has led to formulations of

a right to sanitation that emphasizes both the respon-

sibilities of States and the rights of individuals.

However, efforts to prioritize access to water and sani-

tation services have led to a gradual merger of these

ideas in the human right to water and sanitation as

adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and

the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2010.

Much of the literature on this subject focuses on water

and sanitation simultaneously. This article fills a gap

in knowledge by examining the different evolution of

the human right(s) to water and sanitation at the

international and national levels. It argues that the

practical and social requirements for an environmen-

tally sustainable and cost-effective implementation of

access to water and sanitation are so different that,

even if there is a combined right, the implementation

may call for separating these two issues in some cases.

INTRODUCTION

It is increasingly clear that the right to water extends to

the right to sanitation, as confirmed in the wording of

the 2010 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)1

and United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council

(UNHRC) resolutions.2As the right to water has

received more research focus than the right to sanita-

tion,3this article focuses on the evolution of the com-

bined right, and the similarities and differences

between the water and sanitation components. It

addresses whether access to water and sanitation

should be implemented at the national level as a single

right, or as two distinct rights, which require the adop-

tion of different approaches. These issues have become

increasingly relevant to policy makers and stakeholders

who are struggling to assess how to implement the right

to water and sanitation locally. Although the right to

water and sanitation has been adopted internationally,

it needs to be further articulated and implemented at

the national level to benefit about 748 million and 2.5

billion people, respectively, who lack access to

improved drinking water sources and adequate sanita-

tion services.4This article addresses these issues

through a historical review of the relevant legal, policy

and scientific literature.

The following sections cover the converging history of

water and sanitation rights, illustrate the respective

human rights standards for access to water and sanita-

tion, and discuss the similarities and differences

between access to water and sanitation.

EMERGENCE OF THE RIGHT TO

WATER AND SANITATION

This section traces three pathways to the recognition of

the right to water and sanitation at the international

and national levels of governance: implicit recognition

of the right to water, explicit recognition of the right to

water or sanitation, and explicit recognition of an inde-

pendent, but combined right to water and sanitation.

After the Second World War ended, human rights

emerged from the United Nations system as a promi-

nent international law approach for the protection of

human life and the promotion of equitable develop-

ment.5The UN’s Economic and Social Council drafted

* Corresponding author. Email: pedi.obani@gmail.com.

1The Human Right to Water and Sanitation (UNGA Resolution A/64/

292, 3 August 2010).

2UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Human Rights and Access to

Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (UN Doc. A/HRC/RES/15/9, 6

October 2010).

3J. Gupta and P. van der Zaag, ‘The Politics of Water Science:

Unresolved Water Problems and Biased Research Agendas’, 9:2

Global Environmental Politics (2009), 14; P. van der Zaag, J. Gupta

and P. Darvis, ‘Urgent Water Problems are not Suff‌iciently

Researched’, 13 Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (2009), 905.

4UN, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2014 (UN, 2014).

This is indicative of the extent of the sanitation challenge because the

assesment does not cover other aspects of sanitation such as solid

waste management, drainage, storm water management and access

to hygiene.

5The UN Charter was signed in order to promote and encourage

respect for human rights, among other objectives. See Charter of the

United Nations (San Francisco, 26 June 1945; in force 24 October

1945), Articles 1, 55 and 56. Human rights were also expressed in the

Covenant of the League of Nations which the UN was designed to

replace. See further R.B. Henig, The League of Nations (Barnes &

Noble, 1973).

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Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

RECIEL 24 (1) 2015. ISSN 2050-0386 DOI: 10.1111/reel.12095

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

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