The universal right to water remains only a slogan, the proclamation of which is not enough to quench the thirst or ensure basic sanitation for a few billion, yes billion, people. (1) Unicef-WHO reports 18.6.19 and Unesco, 22.3.19, under the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals. The fateful SDGs in UN Agenda 2030, light years away from the current social and ecological crisis.
Water and sanitation, planetary inequalities
‘Let no one be left behind ‘ is one of the mantras that inspire theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN General Assembly ahead of 2030. Especially with regard toeradicating extreme poverty and ensuring universal rights to food, nutritious and safe. As well as to water. But the numbers, as always, do not add up. And water should not only be accessible. It also needs to be clean, safe, close.
‘Progress on drinking water‘, 18.6.19. The Unicef and WHO (World Health Organization) report-on inequalities in access to water and sanitation-shows that 32 percent of the planet’s inhabitants (2.2 billion) lack access to safe drinking water and 60 percent of individuals (4.2 billion) cannot access safe sanitation.
3 billion people lack the basic tools they need for the simplest but most essential act of hygiene, washing their hands with soap and water. This is true for three-quarters of the populations of the least developed countries. And every year 297,000 children under the age of 5 die from diarrhea related to water and sanitation deficiencies. There are 19 countries where more than half of the population cannot wash their hands at home, with the most critical situations in Liberia (97 percent), Lesotho (95 percent), Guinea Bissau (89 percent), Rwanda (86 percent), Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon (84 percent). Unicef and WHO study on water and sanitation analyzes slow progress toward universal access to water and sanitation. Some progress has been made, but it is not enough to bridge the profound inequalities that exist.
On the water side, 1.8 billion people have gained access to basic water services since 2000, with serious inequalities, however, in access and quality of services. ‘An estimated 1 in 10 of the planet’s inhabitants-785 million in all-still lack safe access to water, including those 144 million people who draw water from uncontrolled reservoirs to drink‘, the report reads. Eighty percent of people without access to clean water live in rural areas. And the gap between rich and poor is large, with coverage of water services reaching double among the affluent.
‘Iaccess alone is not enough. If the water is not clean, not safe to drink or too far away, and if access to a toilet is not safe or limited, we are not achieving useful results for children around the world. Children and families in poor and rural communities are those most at risk of being left behind. Governments must invest in their communities if we are to close economic and geographic gaps and guarantee this basic human right‘. (Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF Associate Director for Water and Sanitation Programs)
As for sanitation, 2.1 billion people would have had access to basic sanitation for the first time since 2000. Once again, ça va sans dir, with serious inequalities. About 2 billion people are without a toilet, and 70 percent of these live in rural areas, especially in the absolute poorest countries.
‘States must redouble their efforts on the sanitation front or we will not achieve universal access by 2030,” he commented, “If governments fail to increase efforts for water and sanitation services, we will continue to live with diseases that we should have long ago consigned to the history books. Infections such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, and neglected tropical diseases such as trachoma, intestinal parasitosis, and schistosomiasis‘. (Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Public Health and Environmental and Social Factors of Health, WHO)
Water, a human right denied
The UN 2030 Agenda commits states to reduce inequality to leave no one behind. But the victims of lack of access to water and sanitation are numbered in the billions, and this basic human right-though expressly recognized in 2010-continues to be denied. So shows the UNESCO report on global water development ‘No One Left Behind‘ (3), released on the occasion of World Water Day on 22.3.19.
Pressure on the planet’s water resources continues to grow, and will continue similar rates until 2050. Due to population increase, socio-economic development and change in consumption. In addition to the ecological crisis, which in turn affects water scarcity and water stress. And inequalities are accentuated to the detriment of the last, the marginalized or discriminated against for the most diverse reasons. Social and economic status but also gender, age, ethnic or religious identity. Who are the excluded?
‘In numerous regions of the world women and girls consistently face discrimination and inequality in accessing their human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. Minorities-ethnic and others-including indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees, and people with specific ancestry (e.g., caste) are often discriminated against, and the same is true for religious and linguistic minorities. Disability, age and health conditions can also be causes of discrimination. Indeed, people with physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disabilities make up a preponderant percentage of those who are unable to access safe drinking water and sanitation. Differences in property, possessions, residence, and economic and social status can also be a cause of discrimination‘. (4)
‘Discrimination, exclusion, marginalization, deeply entrenched power asymmetries and material inequalities are some of the main obstacles that prevent the fulfillment of human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation for all, thus realizing the water-related goals included in the 2030 Agenda.’ (4)
Unless action is taken as soon as possible with concrete and appropriate measures to reduce inequalities, there is a risk of a dangerous escalation of migration and wars, even ‘just’ for water. Millions fleeing drought, fomented by climate change and desertification. Actions are needed, not words.
#Égalité!
Sabrina Bergamini and Dario Dongo
Notes
1. See previous article ‘
Universal right to water, a mirage in its twilight years
‘,
‘Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000-2017 – Focus on Inequalities’ 2.
https://www.unicef.it/Allegati/UNICEF-OMS-Water_Report_2019.pdf
3. World Water Development Report 2019, ‘Leaving No One Behind‘
https://en.unesco.org/themes/water-security/wwap/wwdr/2019
4. UN, World Water Resources Development Report 2019, ‘No one is left behind,’ summary on
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000367303_ita
Journalist. Consumption, rights, nutrition, social, environment. Head of Consumers Help. She collaborated with ResetDOC, Il Riformista, La Nuova Ecologia, IMGPress.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
