1st Edition

Strengthening the Human Right to Sanitation as an Instrument for Inclusive Development

By Pedi Obani Copyright 2018

    Over a third of the current 7.3 billion people worldwide are burdened with poor sanitation services. The resulting social, relational and ecological exclusion make the realisation of the human right to sanitation (HRS) a critical concern development concern. However, the literature has evolved in a largely compartmentalised manner, focusing on the formal recognition of the HRS in domestic legal systems, without sufficiently addressing the drivers of poor sanitation services.

    This research expounds on the impact of the HRS on human wellbeing and the environment within the context of a developing country like Nigeria as a case study. The findings show that contrary to the focus in the literature, the drivers of poor sanitation services are not confined to legal factors, such as the formal recognition of the HRS within domestic legal systems. Rather, the drivers include social, economic and environmental limitations to improved sanitation services.

    Based on the findings, the book argues that the focus in the literature on the formal recognition of the HRS in national legal systems is insufficient for tackling the main drivers of poor sanitation services. It is therefore necessary to reformulate the HRS discourse using complementary governance instruments that advance social, relational and ecological inclusion.

    1 The Human Right to Sanitation and Inclusive Development under an Uncertain Future
    1.1 Introduction
    1.2 The Rising Cost of Poor Sanitation Services
    1.3 Gaps in Scientific Knowledge about the Human Right to Sanitation
    1.4 Research Questions
    1.5 Focus and Limits
    1.6 Thesis Structure

    2 Research Methodology and Theoretical Framework
    2.1 Introduction
    2.2 Ontology and Epistemology
    2.3 Data Collection and Analysis
    2.4 Multi-Level Institutional Analysis, Legal Pluralism and Inclusive Development
    2.5 Conceptual Framework and Integrated Analysis
    2.6 Ethical Considerations

    3 Contextualizing the Sanitation Problem
    3.1 Introduction
    3.2 Defining Sanitation Services
    3.3 Classifying Domestic Sanitation Services as Economic Goods
    3.4 Drivers of Poor Sanitation Services
    3.5 Technologies for Domestic Sanitation Services
    3.6 Technologies for Domestic Sanitation Services, Drivers and Inclusive Development
    3.7 Inferences

    4 Human Rights Principles
    4.1 Introduction
    4.2 Sources and Meaning of Human Rights
    4.3 Human Rights Principles
    4.4 Indicators for Measuring and Evaluating Human Rights Principles
    4.5 Inferences

    5 Human Right to Sanitation Principles
    5.1 Introduction
    5.2 Emergence, Legal Basis, and Meaning of the Human Right to Sanitation
    5.3 Principles of the Human Right to Sanitation
    5.4 Human Right to Sanitation Instruments and Indicators
    5.5 Human Right to Sanitation Indicators
    5.6 Human Right to Sanitation, Drivers & Inclusive Development
    5.7 Inferences

    6 Human Right to Sanitation in Humanitarian Situations
    6.1 Introduction 6.2 Legal Bases and Meaning of the Human Right to Sanitation in International Humanitarian Law
    6.3 Principles of Humanitarian Assistance and Protection of People in Humanitarian Situations
    6.4 Humanitarian Instruments for Sanitation
    6.5 Monitoring Progress on the Human Right to Sanitation in Humanitarian Situations
    6.6 Humanitarian Framework, Drivers, Inclusive Development and Legal Pluralism
    6.7 Inferences

    7 Non-human Rights Principles for Sanitation Governance
    7.1 Introduction
    7.2 Non-human Rights Principles for Sanitation Governance
    7.3 Non-human Rights Instruments for Sanitation Governance
    7.4 Non-Human Rights Frameworks, Drivers, Inclusive Development and Legal Pluralism
    7.5 Inferences

    8 Architecture of Sanitation Governance in Nigeria
    8.1 Introduction
    8.2 Background to the Case Study and the Status of the Human Right to Sanitation
    8.3 Drivers of Poor Sanitation Services
    8.4 Legal Basis for the Human Right to Sanitation in Nigeria
    8.5 Sanitation Governance Instruments
    8.6 Sanitation Governance Principles, Drivers, Inclusive Development and Legal Pluralism
    8.7 Implications and Recommendations for the Inclusive Realisation of the Human Right to Sanitation

    9 Human Right to Sanitation and the Inclusive Development Imperative
    9.1 Revisiting the research questions
    9.2 Addressing the Drivers of Poor Sanitation Services
    9.3 Going Beyond The Current State of the Law
    9.4 Contradictions and Incoherence from Plurality in Sanitation Governance
    9.5 Recommendations for Interpreting and Implementing the Human Right to Sanitation
    9.6 Reflections on Methods
    9.7 Recommendations for Further Research

    References

    Annex A. Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 28 July 2010
    Annex B. Resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on 6 October 2010
    Annex C. Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 December 2015
    Annex D. Thesis log frame
    Annex E. Keywords searched in scientific databases
    Annex F. Criteria for coding sanitation governance principles
    Annex G. List of interviewees
    Annex H. Background information for the respondent households
    Annex I. States with human right to sanitation and/or water legislations, grouped according to their continents

    Biography

    Pedi Chiemena Obani is Lecturer in the Department of Public Law at the University of Benin. She has also been a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria for over a decade, and she works as part of the advisory board of international organisations like the Initiative for Equality (IfE). Against the background of her interest in law as an instrument for social change, Pedi adopts an empirical socio-legal approach to the study of the human to sanitation. Her research covers central themes such as access, allocation, and pluralism in sanitation and water governance institutions across different scales, from the household and local scales through to the international scale. This book essentially integrates her research and professional experience in sanitation and water science, policy and management, since 2012.