the human right to water and sanitation in emergency situations

Figure 1 - Checklist: The victims
Checklist:
Identifying the
victims
- Part 3 - Advocacy on the right to water and sanitation in emergencies
Who are the victims?
Can patterns of vulnerability be identified?
What other rights are affected?
What was the impact of the violation
at the time the research was carried out?
Is the general
population affected, or only
specific groups? What size
are the group(s) affected?
Have those affected been
deliberately targeted by the
authorities?
Within the affected
group(s), who are most
likely to suffer (breakdown
by gender, age, health,
social status, etc)?
In addition to waterrelated
factors (hygiene,
sanitation), are the affected
groups also deprived of the
exercise of rights such as
freedom of movement, access
to livelihoods, etc?
What action has been
taken to mitigate the impact
of the violation? How sustainable
is such action?
As far as possible, violations of the right to water should be identified through direct contact with the people
concerned, either through interviews or via the medium of focus group or large group discussions 124 .
The choice will depend upon the context 125 .
Moreover, both in theory and in practice, all rights are interdependent and interrelated. As a result, individuals
rarely suffer neglect or violation of just one single right. Thus, in most — if not all — emergency
situations, if the right to water and sanitation is violated, then so are a number of other rights. For example,
people deprived of access to water and sanitation services may also be victims of racial, sexual and other
forms of discrimination. Therefore, any analysis of the right to water and sanitation should be correlated
to the study of other rights such as, for example, the right to food or the right to an adequate standard of
living.
124/ Slim (H.) and Eguren (L. E.) Humanitarian Protection: op.cit. p. 32
125/ Large group discussions generally focus on a description of problems, community services, vulnerable groups and
institutional mapping. The objective of focus group discussions may be to make a more in-depth analysis of the problems
identified by larger groups, determining underlying causes and exploring solutions to problems that vulnerable groups face.
Key informant interviews may be semi-formal interviews held with officials from the local administration, WASH staff, and
representatives of local NGOs, etc. They may focus on community services, access issues and institutional mapping. Focus
group categories may include women, youth, the elderly or any specific population groups and representatives of development
committees and associations.
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