Implementing the Human Right to Water and Sanitation: Contribution to core business of WaterLex

The UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council recognised the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) in 2010. Since then a number of countries, national human rights institutions, intergovernmental agencies, particularly Geneva-based UN agencies, have started articulating their work to this new legal paradigm. WaterLex has been involved in these processes from the beginning and was officially recognised by granting the organisation the UN Water Partner status in August 2013. For the last ten years Switzerland has been supporting the HRWS. Switzerland is positioned as one of the global leaders on this topic. SDC has supported WaterLex projects since 2011. This contribution aims at a more intensive outreach of the activities, tools and knowledge developed during the past three years.

Improve governance frameworks for the large scale realisation of the human rights to water and sanitation.

• Legal Desk Component: Harmonisation of water-related (inter)national legal and policy frameworks with international human rights law: 1) Creation of a Swiss-led Global Campus for research and legal support on the HRWS with thirteen universities in partnership with UNESCO-IHE; 2) Strengthening the Help Desk services for parliamentarians and national human rights institutions; 3) Strengthening and coordinating the voice of civil society organisations in Geneva-based UN agencies and other key intergovernmental decision-making processes.
• Operations Desk Component: 1) Support for multistakeholder country mappings and national action plans in selected countries; 2) Training on the use of the ToolKit for the realisation of the HRWS; 3) Development of new tools on integrated resource management and human rights as well as certification in the hotel industry.

Resultate von früheren Phasen:  

Since its creation, WaterLex has been a visionary leader in the implementation of the HRWS. It managed in only three years to:

1. Develop an international network of fourteen academic institutions spread over all five continents;
2. Provide expertise to parliamentarians, UN agencies, national human rights institutions and governments;
3. Undertake innovative training with the support of tailored support material (ToolKit) for practitioners in Moldova, Nicaragua and Mozambique

WaterLex is a respected organisation among civil society organisations. It is a member of the steering committee of the “Butterfly Effect” and received the official request to host the Secretariat of the Freshwater Action Network (FAN) – a coalition of over 1000 NGOs grouped into five regional networks

Phase 1 01.01.2013 - 31.12.2015   (Completed)