Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
OHCHR, as the leading UN entity on human rights, is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realization, by all people, of all rights established in the Charter of the UN and in international human rights laws and treaties, including the human rights to water and sanitation.
The work of OHCHR includes monitoring and preventing violations of human rights to water and sanitation, developing thematic research and advocacy, and promoting a human rights-based approach to water and sanitation in cooperation with Member States, the UN system, national human rights institutions and civil society.
OHCHR, as the secretariat of the Human Rights Council and treaty bodies, provides secretariat support to the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, which is an independent mandate established under the Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures mechanism, as well as to the work of relevant treaty bodies related to water and sanitation.
Human rights framework
Contribution to the global indicators discussions with inputs from the human rights indicators framework.
World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about focusing attention on the importance of water. This year’s theme ‘groundwater’, draws attention to the hidden water resource that has always been critically important but not fully recognized in sustainable development policymaking. Under the title … Read more
The 5th Human Rights Youth Challenge was launched on World Toilet Day, 19 November. The initiative is organized by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. Young people across the world (aged between 19 and 24) are being asked to produce a video or any other … Read more
To mark World Toilet Day 2021, a special event is taking place at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 19 November. The President of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed will open proceedings, highlighting the importance of tackling the glob … Read more
World Toilet Day, 19 November, celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 3.6 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. It is about taking action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. Worl … Read more
In a virtual workshop hosted this week by OHCHR, various UN-Water Members and Partners discussed the development of a roadmap to strengthen the integration of the human rights to water and sanitation in UN-Water’s work. Under OHCHR’s leadership, the forthcoming UN-Water Roadmap on the Human Rights t … Read more
