We aim to publish new materials here that bring light to the development of the human rights to water and sanitation, and other related human rights, such as the right to a healthy environment. The Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) is also transversal to all activities and human rights. This section compiles interesting articles and papers from members and partners that further our vision for a world where all people have access to safe and sustainable water and sanitation.
Human Rights to Water and Cultural Heritage: Safeguarding Indigenous Knowledge and Community Resilience in Water Supply Projects
Author: Dr. Anand Chiplunkar
Water is never only a technical commodity. For communities across the globe, it is deeply intertwined with identity, culture, spirituality, and survival. Centuries-old systems of managing water—such as Sri Lanka’s tank cascades, Peru’s amunas, or Bali’s subaks—demonstrate that heritage and traditional knowledge are not relics of the past, but living foundations of resilience. Yet, modern water supply projects have often overlooked these systems, treating them as obstacles to progress rather than assets to be integrated. The result has been costly failures, abandoned infrastructures, and community distrust. This report demonstrates that the human right to water cannot be realized without protecting cultural heritage and traditional knowledge.
Water and Faith
Author: Grace Anarfi-Wadieh
Environmental legal educations plays a pivotal role in empowering communities to understand and advocate for their water rights; its impact is often limited by sociocultural barriers and low levels of legal literacy. The report gives how integrating faith-based approaches with legal educaiton can enhance community engagement, strengthen water governance and promote long-term water security.
An Unfulfilled Promise: The Pursuit of Recognizing the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation in Brazil
Author: Amael Notini
Brazil’s struggle to guarantee the human rights to water and sanitation is described as ‘a pursuit and an unfulfilled promise’ by Amael Notini, a member of the HR2W Expert Committee, and a Legislative Counsellor to the Brazilian Senate for Human Rights and Citizenship.Despite being home to the world’s largest freshwater reserves, these rights lack explicit constitutional recognition, relying instead on provisions like the rights to life, health, and a healthy environment. Amael concludes that achieving full recognition and implementationdemands clear policies, political will, and efforts to address regional and social inequalities.
Barriers to Investment in Water and Sanitation for Public-Private Partnerships: Accessibility
Author: Saambhavi Nautiyal
As an HR2W Research Intern, Saambhavi Nautiyal has conducted a study exploring the barriers to investment in water and sanitation through the lens of public-private partnerships, with a focus on the human rights to water and sanitation. This initial report in a broader series emphasizes accessibility, reviewing existing literature on the challenges faced by communities, particularly vulnerable populations, in realizing these essential human rights.
Coming soon
Global Water Policy Group 2023
Authors: Pablo Bereciartua, Anne Castle, Mercedes Castro, Dr. Jane Doolan, Felicia Marcus, Dhesigen Naidoo, Oyun Sanjaarsuren, Tony Slatyer, Tom Soo, Dr. Olcay Ünver, and Professor Greg Leslie
This year’s Global Water Policy Report was published in June 2023 with the collaborations of three of our Board Members, Mercedes Castro, Dhesigen Naidoo, and Dr. Olcay Ünver. The report gives an overview on the challenges that governments and stakeholders are facing as well as recommendations on how to use international mechanisms to improve water outcomes and its integration with other sectors.
We also congratulate Dr. Olcay’s contribution on the Global Water Policy Report since it earned him the IWRA Crystal Drop Award.
Read More Here
The Right Path to Mainstream for Reaching the Unreachable
Authors: Sri Purna Chandra Misra and Dr. M R Seetharam
“Water as a basic prerequisite for life is unquestionable” – The Right Path to Mainstream for Reaching the Unreachable
HR2W member, PC Misra and Dr. Seetharam have just published a book on #WASH rights in India. The Right Path to the Mainstream: For Reaching the Unreached is a handbook on the human right to water, sanitation and hygiene. The book includes testimonies from different individuals from vulnerable groups that illustrate the hardships of the limited access to these resources and gives different tools and mechanisms that need to be used to address these issues
Alternative Technologies to Fight Climate Change
Authors: Pavlos Tyrologou, Nazaré Couto, Júlio Ferreira Carneiro, Amanda Loeffen, Vitor Correia, Eleni Gianni, Fernanda De Mesquita Lobo Veloso, Nikolaos Koukouzas, Paula Fernández-Canteli Álvarez, Roman Berenblyum, and Glen Burridge
Climate change effects have been increasing over the past decades. This has led to the increased efforts to find new technologies that can help mitigate the effects that are expected in the future due to natural disasters.
Our partners submitted this research article focusing on hydrogen and Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage as alternative methods for resilience to fight climate change. The paper was released in the 20th edition of the European Geologist Journal on April 2023.
Data on Tap: Realizing Human Rights through Water Utility Reporting Laws
Author: Jacob Hayward
Local water utilities’ policies regarding access, pricing, payment schedules, shutoffs, and debt collection have significant impacts on the individuals and communities that these utilities serve. In recent years, a distinct legislative trend towards mandated water policy transparency has been gaining momentum across the country.
Our partners submitted this research article focusing on the policies and laws regarding the access of information of water utilities in the United States.
Voluntary National Reviews: Country Report 2022
Author: Jacob Hayward
Countries have been using Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) in order to keep track of country commitments toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is not an obligation, however, it has been the best metric to keep track of the progress being made toward the fulfillment of each country’s promises.
Our partners submitted this research article focusing on SDG6 which targets the human right to water and sanitation.
Strengthening accountability mechanisms between citizens, governments and water and sanitation providers remains essential to ensuring the human right to water.
Authors: Christian Borja Vega, Jonathan Grabinsky, Eva Kloeve
Central in guaranteeing the rights to clean WASH is the need to understand the processes, the channels, driving breakdowns in the provision of services. However, fulfilling the human rights to WASH in low- and middle-income countries is constrained by breakdowns in the accountability networks linking the State, water providers, and citizens.
Our partners submitted this research article with recommendations on how to tackle these issues.
