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.
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation is organizing the Fourth Human Rights Youth Challenge and invites youth aged between 16 – 24 to produce and submit a 2-5 minute video on the “impact of climate change on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanit … Read more
World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. The theme of World Water Day 2021 is va … Read more
On 16 November, a joint statement was issued by the special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, together with 22 other UN Special Procedures mandate-holders. The statement was originally published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR … Read more
The third Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, was appointed in September 2020 and took over the mandate on 1 November. “I take up my duties in the midst of a double global crisis – climate change and COVID-19. If we want to surmount … Read more
In 2014, the Human Rights Council appointed Mr. Léo Heller as the second Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. After six years, his second term will finish in 30 October 2020. As the last official event, the Special Rapporteur is organizing an event to take st … Read more
