A new global nongovernmental organisation (NGO) aimed at protecting human rights to water and sanitation has been launched, supported by research and development initiated by former NGO WaterLex over the past ten years.

The Switzerland-registered Human Right 2 Water operates through a virtual structure to convene the skills of its membership and experts in water and sanitation governance and international human rights worldwide.

The NGO aims to integrate human rights to water and sanitation into law, policy and practice to realise safe and sustainable access to water and sanitation for all people, leveraging the use and sharing of expert knowledge.

The Human Right 2 Water board, comprising experts in human rights, water and sanitation research, policy and utilities, as well as gender experts from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, is led by its newly appointed president, South African Water Research Commission CEO Dhesigen Naidoo, and its new CEO, former Waterlex executive director Amanda Loeffen.

WaterLex, also an international NGO, ended its operations early in 2020 after a decade of innovative and highly successful work, owing to significant reductions in the availability of overall NGO funding, according to its website.

Several former staff members of WaterLex were involved in establishing Human Right 2 Water to advance work on the issue of human rights to water and sanitation.

Former World Meteorological Organisation secretary-general Michel Jarraud is chairperson of the Committee of Experts.

“The goal is to realise safe and sustainable access to water and sanitation for all, including the most vulnerable, such as youth who are increasingly marginalised across the globe,” says Naidoo, noting that the association is available as a knowledge partner to assist governments and regions in developing laws, policies and strategies to increase water security, enable growth and development and realise a wide range of human rights, including the right to health, a healthy environment, food and a life lived in dignity.

“The global Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to a pause point, forcing us to relook at the fundamentals. It has emphasised the criticality of water to deal with the immense challenge [in both] containment as well as treatment and recovery,” he adds.

The implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, while difficult for everyone, are particularly hard for the poorer sections of society that do not have access to clean running water for drinking and handwashing and facilities for general hygiene.

Currently, only 53% of schools in the developing world have access to clean water for hygiene and only 66% have access to basic toilets.

Clear, concise and easy-to-implement guidance for governments on how to prioritise access to water, sanitation and hygiene, known as WASH, for vulnerable groups is going to be critical in the fight to overcome the contagion.

The association believes that it is an opportunity to turn the spotlight on the needs of vulnerable people in the context of water and sanitation and its relation to health for the whole community.

“There is a strong need for a human-centred strategy, core to which has to be a human rights-based approach,” Naidoo comments.