Access to sanitation, including toilets, is a basic human need. However, 2.3 billion people globally lack access to a toilet. This impacts health, dignity and safety. With growing recognition that sanitation is essential for human development, some advocate that access to a toilet should be recognized as a human right.
What does having access to a toilet provide?
Having access to a toilet and the ability to practice safe sanitation provides many benefits:
- Improved health – Access to toilets and hygienic sanitation reduces transmission of diseases like diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid which are spread through contaminated food and water.
- Safety and dignity – Without toilets, people are forced to defecate in the open, making them vulnerable to harassment, attacks and rape.
- Education – Girls often miss school during menstruation if there are no toilets. This negatively impacts their education and future opportunities.
- Productivity – Billions of hours are wasted each year finding places to defecate which could be spent in school or work.
- Environment – Open defecation contaminates food and water sources and spreads disease.
In summary, access to toilets is essential for living a life of health, dignity and productivity.
What does human rights law say about sanitation and toilets?
Currently, there is no definitive human right to sanitation or toilets in international human rights law. However, the following treaties and declarations provide relevant protections:
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – Article 25 states that everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being.
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) – Article 11 recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living including adequate food, clothing, housing and ‘the continuous improvement of living conditions.’
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) – Calls on States to ensure women’s right to ‘sanitation.’
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – Article 24 obliges States to combat disease and malnutrition ‘through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution.’
- UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions – Declare sanitation is essential for realizing rights including to adequate housing, health, water, life and dignity.
While not legally binding, these treaties indicate States should provide for adequate sanitation as part of guaranteeing fundamental human rights.
Why do some argue access to toilets should be a distinct human right?
There are several reasons why activists and UN experts argue sanitation and access to toilets should be recognized as a distinct human right:
- The immense scale of the sanitation crisis globally (2.3 billion without toilets) necessitates focused action which a distinct right would catalyze.
- Existing rights like health, water and housing have failed to adequately address sanitation needs.
- A distinct right would affirm the importance of sanitation for human dignity.
- Progress on sanitation continues to lag behind other development goals indicating heightened action is needed.
- Without safe sanitation, realizing other human rights becomes difficult.
In summary, a legally binding human right would bring much needed focus, resources and accountability mechanisms to addressing inadequate sanitation worldwide.
What are the arguments against designating it a human right?
There are also arguments against designating sanitation as a distinct human right:
- It may divert resources from fulfilling other human rights like health, water and housing which also incorporate sanitation.
- Providing sanitation depends on infrastructure development and sufficient resources which are beyond immediate fulfillment.
- It could divert focus from holistic development policies to just delivering toilets.
- The right could be misused for political motivations rather than based on need.
- Monitoring and measuring progress on a distinct right is difficult.
Some argue these limited resources would be better utilized strengthening existing human rights guarantees rather than creating additional, potentially aspirational rights.
What are the obligations that would come with recognizing a right?
If access to sanitation and toilets was established as a human right, States would have the following obligations:
- Make sanitation and toilets progressively available, accessible, affordable, safe and culturally acceptable.
- Ensure everyone has physical and affordable access to toilets, especially vulnerable groups.
- Eliminate discrimination and inequities in access.
- Raise awareness and promote hygiene and toilet use through campaigns.
- Develop budgeted plans of action for providing universal access.
- Enable public participation in decision making on sanitation.
- Monitor delivery and progress.
Fulfilling these obligations would require considerable policy changes and budget allocations in many countries. It would also establish standards against which progress can be measured.
What global action has been taken on sanitation as a human right?
Global initiatives affirming sanitation as a human right include:
- UN recognized water and sanitation as a human right in 2010, calling on States to ensure access.
- The new Sustainable Development Goals include a target to achieve adequate sanitation for all by 2030.
- WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme monitors global progress on sanitation access.
- Many countries have recognized sanitation as a right in law or policy including South Africa, Uganda, Bolivia and Bangladesh.
- Civil society movements like the ‘Right to Pee’ campaign advocate for recognition of sanitation as a right.
However, progress remains slow. Ending open defecation worldwide will require accelerated action through policies, funding and innovation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while sanitation is essential for human health and dignity, there are good arguments on both sides of recognizing legal rights to sanitation and toilets specifically. Even without an explicit right, states have clear moral and legal duties to progressively ensure access to adequate sanitation under related human rights obligations. An independent right would recognize sanitation’s unique importance and could catalyze much needed progress. However, it could also divert focus and resources from broader development policies. In either case, realizing the right to sanitation obliges states to prioritize those without access and eliminate inequities – ensuring nobody has to defecate in the open and everyone can live in safety and dignity.