Human Rights Council:

The Human Rights Council (HRC) is tasked with setting human rights standards, as well as bringing non-compliant countries into compliance. One of the standards the HRC has been working on is Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7.C: to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Access to water and it’s sanitation was first notably addressed in the 1977 United Nations Water Conference. The conference explicitly recognized water as an essential right and gave similar consideration to the sanitation of the water. It should be noted that progress has been made in regards to access to clean water and sanitation, but there is still a long road ahead.

Unfortunately for those faced with sanitation issues, there wasn’t much improvement in 2020 or 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the global community beyond what many could have ever imagined; additionally, the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated some of the human rights issues the United Nations has been addressing, one of these being access to water and sanitation, which includes hand washing and hygiene stations. There are several factors that will need to be addressed by this Council in order to work towards and achieve this goal. Discussions will need to examine how technology can help advance projects on sanitation while helping aid the access to water. There was a great deal of effort put forth from the international community to achieve safe drinking water, as well as debate on what can be done to ensure the same effort is given to sanitation. Another factor to consider is Climate Change; how will this, along with pollution and other threats to the water supply, affect the international community’s ability to achieve the access and expansion to programs directly related to access to clean water and sanitation? The Representatives from Armenia noted that they have received funded projects from the World Bank that have increased the access to water for citizens from 6 hours to 21 hours per day. Other Member States have concerns, such as the Representatives from Bangladesh who noted concern over the limitations to access to water due to the large populations of the countries in which their main access to water comes from.

Finally, the concern of the Human Rights Council and the international community in regards to  the access to marginalized communities disproportionately affected by lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Mexico has asserted their support to the international community in their efforts and actions towards providing equitable water and sanitation services to their citizens, and says they will continue to commit to working with established Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and partnerships, such as their own partnership with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to aid in the access to equitable water management and sanitation services. As the Council progresses through their time in session, it would be nice to see them think outside the box and get creative with how they approach this topic.