Mongolia: UN expert on safe drinking water and sanitation visits in April

Mongolian version

GENEVA (5 April 2018) – The UN’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Leo Heller, will visit Mongolia from 9 to 20 April. 

Heller’s visit will focus on gathering information and testimonies to assess the availability, accessibility, affordability and quality of drinking water and sanitation, with a particular focus on groups such as women and girls, persons with disabilities, as well as people living in rural areas.

“I will visit Ulaanbaatar, Dalanzadgad and Tsogttsetsii and their surroundings to explore what still needs to be undertaken to ensure the human rights to water and sanitation are enjoyed by all in Mongolia,” he said.

Heller will meet government representatives, international development cooperation partners well as civil society and residents in urban and rural areas, and UN officials.

The Special Rapporteur will share his preliminary observations at a press conference on Friday, 20 April at 11:00 in the UN Auditorium, UN House, UN Street-14, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar. Access to the press conference is strictly limited to journalists.

Heller will submit a full report of his findings and recommendations to the 39th session of the Human Rights Council in September 2018. 

ENDS

Mr. Léo Heller (Brazil) is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, appointed in November 2014. He is a researcher in the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil and was previously Professor of the Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil from 1990 to 2014. 

Learn more: http://www.ohchr.org/SRwaterandsanitation  

Follow the Special Rapporteur: @srwatsan  

Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.

They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. 

UN Human Rights, country page: Mongolia 

For more information and media requests, please contact:
During the mission: Ms. Ahreum Lee +41 79-752 0481 / ahreumlee@ohchr.orgor Ms. Tsetsegmaa Amar (+976 11 327 585 ext 1104 / tsetsegmaa.amar@one.un.org) 

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact
Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org) 

This year, 2018, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.