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The right to safe water
THE MANAGEMENT of the Iloilo District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo recognizes the inmates’ right to clean water. This is most welcome. It should be commended for making sure its water supply is clean by tapping the services of the Department of Health to test the water from deep wells inside the jail facility.
Inmates at the Iloilo District Jail now have free supply of potable water. In previous years, they bought gallons of purified water for drinking. In a way, they are lucky. Other Filipinos do not have access to potable water.
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation was a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. The declaration was of global significance. After all, almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water. It was good that the 192-member Assembly also called on United Nations member-states and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.
So what has the Philippine government done after the UN made its sterling declaration?
Although the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is not part of the Declaration of Human Rights, the declaration lent moral and symbolic force to the provision in the policies of individual countries. Studies indicate that an absence of clean water or sanitation exacts a huge human toll. People get sick and die due to water- and sanitation-related diseases.
The recognition of the human right to water and sanitation is a positive signal from the international community and shows its commitment to tackle these issues.
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