Paving the Inclusive Path toward Water for All: Policies and Cases Supporting a Human Rights-Based Approach in Asia and The Pacific
Everyone around the world—no matter their race, religion, creed, or gender—has a right to water and sanitation. Water, after all, is vital for survival. Water is a necessity. And yet, despite significant progress, 2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water services, and 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation services, thereby also putting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation at risk.
This publication, Paving the Inclusive Path Toward Water for All: Policies and Cases Supporting a Human Rights-Based Approach in Asia and the Pacific, provides a comprehensive overview of the human rights-based approach (HRBA) in relation to the human rights to water and sanitation as well as the human rights to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
Prepared through a collaboration between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Human Right 2 Water (HR2W), it presents various pieces of legislation from the region that are aligned with HRBA principles in tandem with ADB projects that either illustrate these policies or the HRBA principles.
The purpose of this publication is to showcase HRBA for water and sanitation investments and enable governments (as the principal duty-bearers) to deliver such projects and ensure their responsibility to citizens to advance human rights. This document features 12 effective water and sanitation projects designed to inspire a shift in perspective and approach. These projects emphasize moving from a needs-based orientation to a process-focused strategy that prioritizes stakeholder participation and empowerment, particularly for poor people and marginalised groups, while ensuring transparency and accountability.
