A/HRC/12/24 page 6 III. DEFINITIONS OF SANITATION 8. Existing definitions of sanitation are an important starting point for understanding the human rights aspects of sanitation. Having said this, one of the challenges of examining sanitation is its numerous definitions. For example, an English dictionary defines sanitation as follows: (a) Formulation and application of measure designed to protect public health; (b) Disposal of sewage.8 9. Other definitions have focused on the process of making something sanitary. For example, during the International Year of Sanitation, a definition of sanitation was developed, which stated that “sanitation is the collection, transport, treatment and disposal or reuse of human excreta, domestic waste water and solid waste and associated hygiene promotion”.9 The term “basic sanitation” is also used, which is defined as the disposal of human excreta to prevent disease and safeguard privacy and dignity. 10 10. Definitions have also been developed for the purpose of monitoring access to sanitation, particularly in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. For example, the Joint Monitoring Programme uses the term “improved sanitation”, referring to types of technology and levels of services that are more likely to be sanitary than unimproved technologies.11 It considers excreta disposal systems as “adequate” as long as they are private and separate human excreta from human contact.12 11. There are many other technical definitions of sanitation, some of which include a much larger concept of a sanitary environment. The wide variety of definitions of sanitation, depending on the context in which one is working, is one of the challenges attached to this issue. People and institutions often use the same word to mean very different things, sometimes creating considerable confusion. 12. Understanding sanitation in a human rights context poses an added challenge because human rights bring certain principles to the fore and have specific requirements. The following sections examine sanitation in the context of human rights and, based on this analysis, a definition of sanitation in human rights terms is offered in section VI. 8 See The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition (2000), updated in 2003. 9 See http://www.unece.org/env/water/meetings/wgwh/Firstmeeting_2008/IYS.pdf. 10 Ibid. 11 See the report of the Joint Monitoring Programme (2008), p. 6. 12 See the Joint Monitoring Programme website, available at http://www.wssinfo.org/ en/122_definitions.html.