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UN-Water Chair's message

Toilets and sanitation protect us ¨C and drive progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

But 3.5 billion people still live without their human right to safe sanitation, with profound impacts on public health, education, economies and ecosystems.

Safely managed sanitation is a human right, essential to a healthy and stable society. Yet many of the people being left behind without these services live in fragile contexts.

For them, sanitation is under threat from conflict, climate change, disasters and institutional neglect.

Attacks are destroying sanitation infrastructure and disrupting services.

Drought is impacting water-based sanitation systems and waste treatment processes.

Flooding, earthquakes and sea surges are damaging toilets, buildings and pipes, spreading human waste into soils and water sources.

No matter where people live or what is happening, they must have affordable and completely reliable access to a safe toilet.

But institutional neglect of sanitation has meant progress is too slow, too fragmented and too under-funded ¨C and the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target of safe toilets for all by 2030 is seriously off track.

This World Toilet Day, if we are to build a fairer and safer future for everyone, we must accelerate much faster towards fulfilling this promise.

Alvaro Lario

Message from the Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Water

Happy World Toilet Day.

Toilet and sanitation are essential to human life. It is a basic need to all of us. It is a vital space that sustains and fulfill human rights, dignity, and health.

However, it is concerning to note that around the world 3,5 billion people are still living without access to safe toilets. Everyday 1,000 children under five died because of preventable causes of unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene. Women and girls, among others are often vulnerable to violence in toilets due to the lack of access to safe sanitation facilities.

We can no longer undermine the importance of toilet to human¡¯s lives and the challenges faced to ensure access to safe toilets. Let¡¯s make our toilet clean, accessible and safe.

Once again, Happy World Toilet Day.

Retno L.P. Marsudi

Ãå±±½ûµØHigh Commissioner for Human Rights' message

Adequate sanitation has a profound impact on people¡¯s sense of dignity.

It is a human right in itself, as well as being indispensable for the enjoyment of numerous other human rights, such as the rights to health, life, education, work, adequate housing and safe water.

And yet, nearly half of the world¡¯s population still lacks access to adequate sanitation. Women, girls and other people who menstruate are disproportionately affected, in part due to stigma and harmful stereotypes regarding menstruation.

Globally, 427 million children lack a basic sanitation service at their school, a fact that again particularly impacts girls¡¯ access and attendance once they reach puberty.

Women, girls and LGBTIQ+ people face greater risks of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, when they have to walk long distances, especially after dark, or use inadequate sanitation facilities.

It is thus essential that sanitation facilities are located within, or in the immediate proximity, of each household, workplace, health and educational institution, and other public places.

We must do more, and better.

Universal access to sanitation for all means that the needs of those furthest behind must be prioritized, including persons with disabilities, slum dwellers, persons living rural areas, homeless people, among others.

The voice of marginalized and disadvantaged individuals and groups should be heard in decision-making processes related to management of sanitation infrastructure and services.

On this World Toilet Day, I urge accelerated action towards the elimination of inequalities in access to toilets and hygiene facilities and ensuring the enjoyment of the right to sanitation without discrimination.

The human rights framework applies at all times. The protection of civilian water and sanitation infrastructure is essential also in emergency or conflict situations.

Volker T¨¹rk

Message from the Executive Director United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Around the world, climate change, conflict, poverty, and other crises are undermining the basic human right to safe sanitation for millions of children ¨C putting their health and wellbeing at grave risk.

This year¡¯s World Toilet Day theme, ¡°Sanitation for Peace,¡± underscores the devastating impact that war and emergencies are having on access to proper sanitation ¨C especially for the 460 million children currently living in or fleeing from conflict zones.

After more than a year of war in Gaza, for example, nearly 90 per cent of the population has been displaced ¨C with many families forced to relocate multiple times ¨C and sanitation services have all but collapsed. Almost all of Gaza¡¯s wastewater treatment plants have either been destroyed or made inaccessible. This has caused massive contamination of the environment with untreated sewage, leading to disease outbreaks to which children are especially vulnerable.

Meanwhile in Sudan, home to the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, we have seen a rise in cholera cases linked to the destruction of waste management systems amidst the ongoing civil war. Over the last year, more than 6,000 cases of cholera have been reported among children, with over 200 deaths.

In these and other conflicts across the globe, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Myanmar, violence is destroying the essential systems that children rely on for their health and survival ¨C including safe sanitation.

This is unacceptable.

Access to safe sanitation is essential for children¡¯s survival and wellbeing. And it is critical to economic development, and for lifting communities out of poverty.

When children have access to safe water and sanitation services, they are more likely to be healthy and attend school, and less likely to contract water-borne diseases or experience displacement.

On this World Toilet Day, UNICEF is urging parties to conflict to uphold their legal obligations to protect children and the systems they rely on ¨C which includes safe sanitation.

UNICEF is also urging governments, communities, and partners to reaffirm our shared commitment to ensuring that every child and family has access to safe sanitation facilities. This includes increasing investment in resilient sanitation systems that can withstand the challenges posed by conflict and climate change. This commitment is both a moral imperative, and a prerequisite for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Every child has the right to basic sanitation. Let us work together to build a world where access to safe sanitation is guaranteed, ensuring that no child is left behind.

Catherine Russell