normative content
of the rights to water and sanitation is to be determined in
terms of the criteria of availability, quality, acceptability, accessibility and
affordability.
One year after the right was adopted, the Human Rights Council
guides Member States on their duties
with respect to implementing the human
right, in Resolution 18/1. One recommendation was that indicators are set based
on human rights criteria to monitor progress and to identify shortcomings to be
rectified and challenges to be met. General Comment 15 r
equests that States
parties adopt the necessary measures to ensure
, among other things, that
water
is affordable.
Led by the
WHO / UNICEF
Joint Monitoring Programme, the process is under
way to identify targets and indicators for global sector monitoring a
fter 2015.
The human rights criteria play a central role in this process of indicator
identification. Affordability considerations are key to scaling up
water, sanitation
and hygiene (
WSH
)
services and ensuring everyone can benefit, irrespective of
income
or race, from this essential service. Indeed, WSH affordability has been
recognised for decades in various global and regional water declarations and
statements, and was
considered for
adopt
ion
in the wording of the MDG target 7
relating to water and sanit
ation access. Many national laws support ‘equitable’,
‘fair’, ‘acceptable’, ‘accessible’, ‘affordable’ or ‘reasonably priced’ drinking water.