A/HRC/39/55
services by supporting local water and sanitation service providers in their task of ensuring
the operational continuity of critical functions and access to municipal services for both
forcibly displaced persons and host communities.38 According to information provided by
Public Services International, interventions and investments should be integrated into
national and local public services, as this will contribute to overall improvements in the
quality and delivery of public services that benefit the whole of community, citizens and
non-citizens alike.
43.
An inclusive approach is also one that addresses other human rights issues in order
to achieve the full realization of the human rights to water and sanitation for forcibly
displaced persons. Insecurity of tenure prevents internally displaced persons from being
able to leave informal settlements and makes them more dependent on informal services.
Lack of access to work or livelihood activities denies forcibly displaced persons the ability
to live autonomously, and can have a negative impact on the financial sustainability of
water and sanitation services, given that they are unable to pay the prices charged. The right
to employment is guaranteed to all refugees under the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees; in the case of migrants and other displaced persons, any difference in treatment
with regard to access to employment requires justification. According to the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, access to education and to employment are
important channels for integration within the host country, and will reduce the dependence
of refugees and migrants on public support or private charity (E/C.12/2017/1, para. 6).
44.
In some cases, States have or report insufficient information on the enjoyment of
human rights by refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants and internally displaced
persons in human rights monitoring. In the development context, global monitoring of the
targets on water, sanitation and hygiene of the Sustainable Development Goals has revealed
a lack of disaggregated data on access to water and sanitation by forcibly displaced persons.
Without information on the extent to which forcibly displaced persons enjoy human rights,
it is difficult to plan and strategize ways to reach them. Research has shown that only 50
per cent of countries around the world have water, sanitation and hygiene policies and plans
that include specific measures addressing the needs of refugees and internally displaced
persons. 39 Only 14 per cent of countries have specific measures for the allocation of
resources to refugees and internally displaced persons, and consistently apply them.
B.
The humanitarian-development nexus
45.
Despite the fact that displacement is likely to be a long-term issue, both host States
and donors often respond to it as if it were a short-term emergency. Protracted displacement
can still be an emergency, and the development stage can still revert to an emergency
situation. Such situations make interventions more complex; for instance, in the Syrian
Arab Republic, parallel interventions on water and sanitation are being conducted. In some
stabilized areas, rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure is regarded as a more
structured medium- to long-term form of support, while emergency needs continue to be
addressed by the humanitarian actors who have access to the areas. Therefore, addressing
situations where humanitarian and development activities overlap is an enormous
challenge, particularly when States do not have a significant role in coordination, which is
often the case during and after emergencies.
46.
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants has compiled a long list of
the barriers between peacebuilding and humanitarian actors when they engage with
development actors in durable solutions, such as differences in planning and evaluation
cycles and methods, lack of data collection and analysis, lack of coordination with
Governments and international organizations, and inadequate integration of displacement
considerations into development, peacebuilding and human rights capacity-building efforts
(A/68/225, para. 42). Sanitation and hygiene have been identified as areas where the
38
39
12
ICRC, Urban services during protracted armed conflict: a call for a better approach to assist affected
people, ICRC, Geneva, 2015.
UN-Water and WHO, Financing Universal Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (see footnote 30).
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