“I will look at how human rights to water and sanitation are legally recognized and implemented in India at the national, state and local level, and how the provision of water and sanitation services adheres to human rights standards and principles,” said Léo Heller, the independent expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor, report and advise on the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation worldwide.
The human rights expert, who will visit the country at the invitation of the Government of India, will meet government representatives at national and local level as well as civil society and community organizations, residents in urban and rural areas, and UN officials.
Access will be strictly limited to members of the press.
Mr. Léo Heller (Brazil) is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, appointed in November 2014.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
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16 October 2017 – United Nations human rights experts are urging the Government of France to devise long-term measures to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for migrants in Calais and other areas along the northern French coast.
After the so-called ‘Calais Jungle’ camps were dismantled in November 2016, migrants continued to return to the area. Many are living without shelter and proper access to drinking water, toilets or washing facilities.
“It is worrying that approximately 700 migrants in Calais and the greater area of Calais temporarily rely on only 10 portable lavatories and water from 10 taps,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, Léo Heller, in a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“Human rights apply to all, including migrants, regardless of their status. Consequently, the legal recognition by the French court of the human rights obligation to provide access to water and sanitation should be commended, but the authority of those decisions is diminished if they are not implemented in practice,” said the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales.
Migrants in camps at Grande-Synthe, Tatinghem, Angres and Dieppe rely on help from volunteers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They are opening their facilities and provide transportation to sports facilities so that migrants can use toilets and take showers as a temporary solution.

Arguably there could be perhaps two ways to reduce or eliminate poverty: One is to make everybody or every nation rich; though it is not possible politically and logistically, it would still not solve the problem of poverty due to the limited global resources and their geographical distribution and constraints.
Critical to achieving sustainability and eradicating poverty is to have sustainable energy and water supplies that have little or no geographical or climatic condition constraints.
Additionally they have negative impact on the environment, which has resulted in the challenge of Climate Change.
Renewable energy sources, on the other hand, whether solar, wind, tidal, hydropower, etc., though have less negative impacts on the environment; they are not free from geographical and climatic constraints regardless of their development status.
The most populated parts of the world suffer from water shortages.
Tapping into seawater was considered as an option solution for freshwater supply, but as mentioned before desalination is energy intensive technology and has high installation cost, which limits its use to wealthy and oil rich countries.
The world needs water and food as well among other key requirements. Hence having secure, adequate, sustainable and low cost energy source provides sustainable and affordable water.
For example, in the case of energy, scientists and engineers for a long time, probably since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, have associated energy transformation and power production to fuel consumption; e.g. burning wood, coal, oil and gas including the nuclear reaction.
Given that accessible, affordable, secure and low cost energy is central to achieving sustainable development, energy therefore must have the highest global priority.

The sustainable environment is required for ensuring human rights as every human has right to live in a safe and secure environment.
The use of water has increased with the growth of the population for the past century. The one-sixth of the world’s population has no access to safe drinking water. There is an improvement in sanitation world-wide particularly, in developing regions.
According to the recent 2009 MDG Report of UN the growth of four goals of poverty reduction, universal primary education, reduced child mortality and some dimensions of environmental degradation like ozone depletion are not given due importance. In every region, the living standard of the urban poor has improved but a growth of slum areas cannot be overlooked. It shows the efforts to preserve the natural resource is not effective in the context of climate change, fisheries, forest, and water depletion.
Despite the efforts of the UN and other advocacy groups from around the world the progress toward environmental justice has been slow.
The environmental degradation is affecting different segments of the society particularly, the marginalized people who are deprived of their basic needs. The abuse of human rights is apparent in different regions in terms of resource distribution.

HARGEISA – In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations to build a better world over the next 15 years, DP World will provide a US$ 2 million donation to help increase water availability and improve healthcare in Berbera following an agreement with the Government of Somaliland.
The funding builds on DP World’s ongoing work in Somaliland where it has a 30-year concession to develop a multi-purpose project at the Port of Berbera. The initiative aligns with the UN’s 17 goals for sustainable development that address major issues such as access to clean water and sanitation, ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, combatting climate change, and protecting our oceans and forests. It also forms part of DP World’s “Our World, Our Future” global sustainability programme.
Part of the donation will also help finance improvements to the Berbera General Hospital and the Berbera Mental Hospital, to ensure access to better medical facilities and reduce the need for local residents to travel outside of the town when they require assistance.
This support for Berbera is part of our commitment to help develop the areas in which we operate and we are confident that our donation will have important benefits for many people across the region.
Ongoing efforts include donating 4.5m litres of water to the drought committee in Berbera, sponsorship of 11 schools and a maritime education academy, as well as two hospitals and a clinic. To help tackle food insecurity and famine in the area the company has also supplied 3,000 families with food provisions.

The funding builds on DP World’s ongoing work in Somaliland where it has a 30-year concession to develop a multi-purpose project at the Port of Berbera. It also forms part of DP World’s "Our World, Our Future" global sustainability programme.
As part of the project, DP World will drill four water wells in Berbera and three outside the Sahil region to address recent water shortages and meet the increasing demand for water following the growth of Berbera’s infrastructure and the development of the port. The Sahil region has been affected by a devastating drought for two years and only one in three people in Somaliland currently have access to safe drinking water, according to the UN.
Part of the donation will also help finance improvements to Berbera hospitals to ensure access to better medical facilities and reduce the need for local residents to travel outside of the town when they require assistance.
This support for Berbera is part of our commitment to help develop the areas in which we operate and we are confident that our donation will have important benefits for many people across the region.
Since taking over the Port of Berbera, DP World has backed a range of initiatives on water scarcity, education and healthcare in the Sahil region. Ongoing efforts include donating 4.5m litres of water to the drought committee in Berbera, sponsorship of 11 schools and a maritime education academy, as well as two hospitals and a clinic. To help tackle food insecurity and famine in the area, the company has also supplied 3,000 families with food provisions.

Millions of people around the world still don’t have secure access to drinking water.
According to the most recent statistics compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), four out of every 10 Salomon Islanders don’t have secure access to clean drinking water. This makes the Salomon Islands a member of the small group of countries in which the drinking water situation has not improved, but rather worsened, in the past few years.
Around the world, 89 percent of the population has access to clean water.
Despite the recent setbacks seen in some island nations, the overall situation is improving year after year.
Whereas at least two-thirds of urban populations have access to clean water, that number can plunge to less than a third in rural areas, where most of the population lives.
Worldwide, 95 percent of city dwellers have access to clean water while that number is only 80 percent for those living in rural areas.

.
COLOMBO, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka, since late 2016, has been experiencing a lack of rainfall which has developed into what is believed to be the worst drought in 40 years, with significant impacts on the economic activity, livelihoods and lives of communities, the latest United Nation (UN) report said on Tuesday.
As of September 19, 1.9 million people were estimated to be affected by the drought across 17 districts, according to the State-run Disaster Management Centre (DMC).
Due to ongoing drought, the rice production for 2017 is expected to be the lowest paddy production in the last 10 years. The production forecast for 2017 will be sufficient for just over 7 months of household consumption, the report by the UN resident coordinator said.
"As a result, over 300,000 households are estimated to be food insecure with many households limiting their food intake and in some cases eating just one meal a day."
As much as 50 percent of households surveyed in a recent World Food Program assessment reported that their debts have almost doubled compared to 2016 due to a lack of agriculture based income.
Even though sporadic rains have been experienced in drought- hit areas over the past few weeks, the UN report warns these rains are unlikely to significantly alleviate the ongoing drought conditions which are predicted to continue in the coming weeks.

Poor rains in Kenya deepens drought, children go hungry – UNICEF.
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The number of children in need of life-saving aid continues to grow in Kenya amid one of most punishing droughts in years and another disappointing rainy season, the United Nations’ children agency said on Friday.
With crops failing and livestock producing too little milk, nearly 370,000 children across the East African country aren’t getting enough to eat, an increase of 30,000 from February, UNICEF said.
Kenya’s northern Turkana and Marsabit counties, home to pastoralist communities, have been hardest hit, with one in three children there acutely malnourished.
UNICEF, which is giving aid to the Kenyan government to overcome the effects of the drought, said hunger was spreading faster than its humanitarian assistance.
“We have reached 60 percent more children with life-saving assistance in the first half of 2017 compared to 2016, yet more and more children are becoming malnourished,” said Werner Schultink, UNICEF’s representative in Kenya, in a statement.
Now in its third month, the strike over poor pay has led to patients being sent away from some hospitals.
UNICEF called for more resources not only to keep children healthy and nourished, but also tackle knock-on effects of the food crisis, such as children being pulled out of school as their families flee the drought and others being sent to work.
Kenya has lowered its 2017 economic growth forecast to 5.5 percent due to drought and political uncertainty, a top official said on Friday.
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Poor rains in Kenya deepens drought, children go hungry: UNICEF.
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The number of children in need of life-saving aid continues to grow in Kenya amid one of most punishing droughts in years and another disappointing rainy season, the United Nations’ children agency said on Friday.
With crops failing and livestock producing too little milk, nearly 370,000 children across the East African country aren’t getting enough to eat, an increase of 30,000 from February, UNICEF said.
Kenya’s northern Turkana and Marsabit counties, home to pastoralist communities, have been hardest hit, with one in three children there acutely malnourished.
UNICEF, which is giving aid to the Kenyan government to overcome the effects of the drought, said hunger was spreading faster than its humanitarian assistance.
“We have reached 60 percent more children with life-saving assistance in the first half of 2017 compared to 2016, yet more and more children are becoming malnourished,” said Werner Schultink, UNICEF’s representative in Kenya, in a statement.
Now in its third month, the strike over poor pay has led to patients being sent away from some hospitals.
UNICEF called for more resources not only to keep children healthy and nourished, but also tackle knock-on effects of the food crisis, such as children being pulled out of school as their families flee the drought and others being sent to work.
Kenya has lowered its 2017 economic growth forecast to 5.5 percent due to drought and political uncertainty, a top official said on Friday.
Visit news.trust.org