Reporting progress on the human right to water and sanitation through JMP and GLAAS

摘要

International institutions have the authority to monitor States' compliance with the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) but the necessary tools for this task are not yet ready. The human development sector has a wider experience of using information about progress, which provides a perfect opportunity to develop this further. The World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring programme (JMP) and the UN Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) data sets could be used for those with a mandate to monitor the right, contributing to this challenge. Consequently, the information they offer has been analysed through a human rights lens. A matrix has been constructed to specifically identify to what extent their data sets could be combined to monitor HRWS in a broad sense. The JMP-led post-2015 proposal makes a considerable contribution to outcome indicators for measuring right-holders' enjoyment of the right, and GLAAS adds structural and process outcome indicators to measure duty-bearers' conduct. However, there are still some critical gaps if both UN Water platforms are to be used to report progress on HRWS. Finally, the article suggests some ideas concerning the way these shortcomings could be addressed.