NEW YORK. On July 28 2010, the United Nations General Assembly (GA) declared that the right to clean water and proper sanitation is a human right.

Currently, around 844 million people do not have access to clean water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation facilities. This causes approximately 1.5 million deaths each year in children under the age of 5. Also, it is estimated that 443 million school days are lost due to sickness related to the lack of clean water and basic sanitation.

The GA urges member states to facilitate the access to clean water and sanitation by means of technology, education and financial contributions.

Furthermore, the resolution states that yearly reports will be made by Caterina del Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
The GA hopes its effort will further steps taken to see the Millennium Development Goals (aimed at eradicating poverty by 2015) become a reality.

The GA adopted Resolution 10967 with 122 votes for, including votes from China, Russia, France, Germany, Spain and Brazil.
Although there were no votes against the resolution, there were 41 abstentions. Most of these came from nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The NJCM regrets that The Netherlands also abstained from voting, despite the efforts of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, who is currently the chairman of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB), which advises Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in this area.

Critics state that some of the wealthier states fear that they will be presented with the bill for securing clean water and sanitation, whereas not enough emphasis is placed on the responsibility of the nations facing the greatest problems in this area.

Sources:

UN News Centre, 28 July 2010

UN Resolution 10967, 28 July 2010

AFP News, 28 July 2010

UNSGAB website