Special Session: "Towards a Regional Programme on Applying a Human Rights-based Approach (HRBA) to Water Governance: challenges and opportunities"

In the last years, the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and General Comment 15 (2002) by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have creating an enabling platform to adopt a Human Rights-based Approach (HRBA) to water governance. The emerging activities under the Protocol on Water and Health on one hand, and the international Decade for Action on ‘Water for Life’ (2005 -2015) as well as 2008 being the UN International Year of Sanitation on the other, provide incentives to examine linkages between human rights, development and water governance.

The UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre (BRC) is committed to translate these frameworks, recommendations and principles into concrete action and results th roughout the Europe & CIS region. The BRC has therefore started to develop a new Regional Programme on “Water Governance and Human Rights”. The aim is to develop and implement Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) projects in selected countries throughout Europe and CIS, using human rights standards and principles as effective tools and entry-points to address the practical challenges of the water and sanitation area, and at streamlining human rights, vulnerability and poverty aspects into the WSS sector.

Objective of the Session

The objective of this workshop session is to present the draft concept of the new regional UNDP programme, and to discuss its main components in light of the overall topic of the workshop, “water & Health” and the protocol on Water and Health.

In addition, the session will aim at consulting with stakeholders to further enhance the understanding of what implementing the “right to water and sanitation” concretely entails for national and international actors, and how to overcome the challenges involved.

The expected outcomes of this session include:

• Presentation and consultation on the draft concept and proposed methodological approach with stakeholders
• Presenting and discussing first results from the desk assessments, focusing on one pilot case study from the EECCA region (Moldova)
• Discussing potentials and limitations of the “Right to Water” and its application, as well as links, synergies and possible obstacles in aligning the new programme with other work in the region
• The way forward: Possible concrete projects and interventions for future development and implementation
• More detailed information on the structure and discussions (with a list of lead questions) for the
  proposed working groups will be provided during the session.