Droit humain a l'assainissement: vers l'emancipation d'un droit au niveau international

Abstract

In the evolution of the right to water in international law a distinction was gradually established between the right of access to water and the right to sanitation. Initially grouped under the “right to water”, the right to sanitation is gaining notoriety while the right to water itself is still evolving to be properly recognized as a binding law. Whether the water access is likely challenging, with 663 million people in the world lacking access to water, the situation is much more serious on sanitation, where 2.4 billion people in the world lack improved sanitation facilities (as of WHO and UNICEF 2015 estimations). Since the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ General Comment No. 15 (2002) the right to water has experienced remarkable growth, followed by the adoption of the resolution 64/292 on 28 July 2010 by the UN General Assembly (reaffirmed by the resolution 68/157 on 18 December 2013). However, the analysis of these documents (among others) to a human right to sanitation seem to be diluted in the right to water. The identification of the two rights in one is problematic and there is an imbalance in their evolution, especially at the expense of the right to sanitation. In addition, the close relationship between the right of access to water and the right to sanitation is undeniable – the fulfillment of the latter being even an element leading to the protection of water resources. Even though a human right to water is still evolving on international law, the right to sanitation seems to go towards an emancipation from the former. The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals on 25 September 2015 shows a clear change from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with respect to the realization of the right to water and sanitation, since the ODD present specific targets for the promotion of access to drinking water and sanitation (under objective 6). Similarly, the UN General Assembly resolution 70/169, on 17 December 2015, sets out an explicit distinction between the right to drinking water and the right to sanitation, even stating that the second is often overlooked.