Summary

States are required to ensure that educational facilities within their jurisdictions meet human rights standards. This requires a clear understanding of the synergies between the right to education and other human rights, and ways of further promoting the integration of those rights into practices.

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education focuses on the interrelations between the right to education and the rights to water and sanitation, including hygiene and menstrual health and hygiene. She explores situations where the failure to respect, protect and fulfil the rights to water and sanitation in education institutions impedes the realization of the right to education. She also underlines that the rights to water and sanitation, like many other human rights, cannot be fully implemented unless the right to education is realized. This enables people’s understanding, agency and autonomy in those areas.

The report contains guidelines for the provision of water and sanitation in educational settings, for the realization of the right to education. The final section of the report contains recommendations for stakeholders.

Methodology

In drafting the present report, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education benefited from the valuable collaboration of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, and the insights of the Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. The Special Rapporteur on the right to education also held an online meeting of experts on 29 June 2020.

Related Group

Special Rapporteur on the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation