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Institutional Arrangements
Realising the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation: A Handbook

Realising the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation: A Handbook

Year of publication:
2014
This Handbook gives guidance on the implementation of the human rights to water and sanitation as defined by the international human rights legal framework. The main target audiences include governments at all levels, donors and national regulatory bodies, however, it provides information that will also be useful to civil society, service providers and human rights organisations.

Building block(s)
Institutional Arrangements
Planning Monitoring and Review
Sector Financing
Capacity Development
Crosscutting Areas
Scope
Both national and subnational
Subsector
Both urban and rural
Languages
Portuguese
Arabic
English
French
Spanish
Organization responsible for the tool
Human Rights to Water & Sanitation UN Special Rappateur
Detailed description of Tool

Human rights texts adopted by the United Nations frequently seem quite vague, making it hard for States to understand exactly what they must do. Even when committed to realising human rights, States find it difficult to translate the abstractness of universal human rights norms into an appropriate course of action.

This Handbook has been developed to fill that gap. The main focus of this Handbook is to provide guidance for State actors on the implementation of the human rights to water and sanitation as defined by the international human rights legal framework. It also seeks to identify common challenges and obstacles and how these can be overcome, in order to respond to the practical problems that States face when realising the human rights to water and sanitation.

Examples of problems and possible solutions are given wherever possible, to provide a concrete understanding of how States can bring about the realisation of the human rights to water and sanitation. The Handbook also provides checklists for States and discusses the different roles of the various actors and the essential partnerships between them that are necessary to bring about the realisation of the human rights to water and sanitation.

This Handbook is organised into several booklets, which include:

  • Legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks
  • Financing and budgeting
  • Services
  • Monitoring
  • Access to Justice
  • Principles
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