U.N. Resolution Announces Rapporteur on Human Right to Water and Sanitation

The U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution Friday, March 25, extending the mandate of the independent expert on the human right to safe water and sanitation for another three years. The resolution, passed by consensus, also gave the U.N. Independent Expert Catarina de Albuquerque the powers of a special rapporteur.

This is good news for many reasons. The first is that, as a special rapporteur, de Albuquerque now has different powers. In addition to assisting governments to define the scope and content of the rights, she can engage with governments about complaints from affected individuals, communities, and civil-society organizations on issues and violations of the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Secondly, the resolution explicitly states the full list of criteria for the human rights to water and sanitation. The U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Human Rights Council resolutions did not list the full criteria, which is outlined as follows in the resolution:

"Encourages the Special Rapporteur, in fulfilling his or her mandate: (a) To promote the full realization of the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation by, inter alia, continuing to give particular emphasis to practical solutions with regard to its implementation, in particular in the context of country missions, and following the criteria of availability, quality, physical accessibility, affordability and acceptability."

Read the full resolution and U.S. comments before the vote.