The Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

A comprehensive overview of the human rights to water and sanitation, exploring theoretical, conceptual, and practical aspects.

Le?o Heller (Author)

9781108837248, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 May 2022

400 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm, 0.8 kg

'A brilliant synopsis of scholarly debates and a powerful tool through which scholars, policymakers and activists might invest human rights with greater meaning.' Alex Loftus, Department of Geography, King's College London

This analysis of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation (HRtWS) uncovers why some groups around the world are still excluded from these rights. Léo Heller, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, draws on his own research in nine countries and reviews the theoretical, legal, and political issues involved. The first part presents the origins of the HRtWS, their legal and normative meanings and the debates surrounding them. Part II discusses the drivers, mainly external to the water and sanitation sector, that shape public policies and explain why individuals and groups are included in or excluded from access to services. In Part III, public policies guided by the realization of HRtWS are addressed. Part IV highlights populations and spheres of living that have been particularly neglected in efforts to promote access to services.

Part I. The human rights to water and sanitation: background
1. Emergence and consolidation of legal obligations
2. The meaning of the human rights to water and sanitation
3. Controversies around the human rights to water and sanitation
Part II. Drivers for the realization and violation of the HRtWS
4. Neoliberalism and privatization
5. Business activities with an emphasis on megaprojects
6. Development cooperation in water and sanitation
Part III. Policies
7. Regulation of water and sanitation services
8. Accountability in the water and sanitation sector
9. Affordability in the access to services
10. Progressive realization of the human rights to water and sanitation
Part IV. People
11. The gender dimension
12. Forcibly displaced persons
13. Spheres of life beyond the household with an emphasis on public spaces.

Subject Areas: Environment law [LNKJ], Environmental economics [KCN], Human rights [JPVH]