Right to Water and Sanitation

Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation:
A human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights.

Global Green has long advocated for placing human rights at the heart of sustainable development, and viewing the right to water as essential. Global Green and Green Cross were among the first organizations to engage in the definition of this new socio-economic right, and quickly started promoting it through its network of national organizations.

UN General Assembly

In July 2010, the UN General Assembly declared safe and clean drinking water, and sanitation, a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. A streamlined human-rights-based approach will be needed to help countries and stakeholders attain the water-related Sustainable Development Goals.

On-going Advocacy

From 2013 to 2015 Global Green, Green Cross, and GC Burkina Faso engaged in on-going advocacy efforts at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, Gambia. A Resolution on the Right to Water Obligations was adopted by the Commission in March 2015.