The Determinants of Access to Sanitation: The Role of Human Rights and the Challenges of Measurement

Abstract

Ten years after the United Nation’s recognition of the human right to water and sanitation (HRtWS), little is understood about how these right impacts access to sanitation. There is limited identification of the mechanisms responsible for improvements in sanitation, including the international and constitutional recognition of rights to sanitation and water. We examine a core reason for the lack of progress in this field: data quality. Examining data availability and quality on measures of access to sanitation, we arrive at three findings: (1) where data are widely available, measures are not in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, revealing little about changes in sanitation access; (2) data concerning safe sanitation are missing in more country-year observations than not; and (3) data are missing in the largest proportions from the poorest states and those most in need of progress on sanitation. Nonetheless, we present two regression analyses to determine what effect rights recognition has on improvements in sanitation access. First, the available data are too limited to analyze progress toward meeting SDGs related to sanitation globally, and especially in regions most urgently needing improvements. Second, utilizing more widely available data, we find that rights seem to have little impact on access.

The Human Right to Water and Sanitation: Using Natural Language Processing to Uncover Patterns in Academic Publishing

“…This is not to say that sanitation is unimportant, but it does appear that research and publications on the human right to sanitation have been relegated to a somewhat secondary area in terms of topical importance across assessed publications. Schiel et al [27], for instance, identify this shortcoming and some of the underlying difficulties in researching topics related to sanitation. For our study, this is most directly reflected in the fact that the word sanitation only appears once in the list of top words in our topic modeling approach.…”

“…Some scholars have been skeptical of the potential of human rights approaches to policy issues in general [24], while others are more sanguine about their effectiveness [25]. In terms of the impact of the human right to water, some have argued that it has been limited to affecting policies that resulted in mere technical adjustments, rather fundamental changes that resolve the issue of access [26,27].…”

“…With the creation of the HRtWS, scholars began to examine related but divergent aspects of water and sanitation including the relationship between water and health [28], water and food; water scarcity and conflict between agriculture, industry, and human consumption; water and corruption [29]; water and the environment; indigenous peoples' rights to prior consent; water and development including mega projects such as dam construction [30]; and environmental rights and the legal rights of rivers [31]; infrastructure [32][33][34]. Other studies pivot in a different direction to focus on hydrology, water treatment, water management [35] or on the politics and policy of water and sanitation access [27,36]. Because water is so central to all areas of life, economy, and environment, the academic literature on water and sanitation rights has taken many different directions.…”

“…Lastly, the journal Water (bottom left quadrant) publishes most frequently on Topics 16-Water Security and Supply and 3-Water Research, Governance, and Development. Recent publications include topics on water scarcity and inefficient water usage in the United States [61], the effects of constitutionalizing the human right to water [27], water governance and policy in India [62], water security challenges in Togo [63]. Across each of the top four journals, the multidisciplinary nature of topics is quite apparent which speaks to the importance of engagement with a wide selection of academic outlets.…”

Untangling the vicious cycle around water and poverty

“…Thus, knowing details about the differences in access to water related to the existing inequality both in terms of economy and access to water would allow improving governance with the aim of achieving sustainable development goals (Cole et al, 2018; Yu et al, 2014). The socioeconomic characteristics of households and the cost of service are essential factors linked to service affordability (Dungumaro, 2007; Ezbakhe et al, 2019; Sebri, 2015) of which very little information is available for international analysis (Schiel et al, 2021). In addition, there is inadequate information on the cost of production in terms of water, so precise analyses about virtual water trade are very limited.…”