This is the final round of intergovernmental negotiations, scheduled for July 20-31, prior to the UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda.

 

Mercy Global Action at the UN is continuing to engage in the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, advocating for a rights-based and people-centered approach to sustainable development. In particular, Mercy, along with our Mining Working Group and global water justice colleagues, remains adamant in the continued push to ensure that the human right to water and sanitation is explicitly named in the Declaration of the Post-2015 outcome document.

It is critical that we continue to hold our governments accountable for their commitments to international human rights standards at this last stage in the negotiations. In particular, it is crucial to finish our work within the Post-2015 process calling for the explicit acknowledgement of the human right to water and sanitation in the Declaration, as this recognition in the document will guide the interpretation and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 6 on water and sanitation.

During this week’s negotiations, Mercy Global Action at the UN collaborated on a joint statement given on behalf of more than 16 organizations on the topic of human rights and corporate accountability. We highlight the need to address structural imbalances by advancing binding human rights norms, including those for transnational corporations. Moreover, our statement highlights the growing evidence that privatization of essential social services exacerbates inequalities in access and marginalizes the poorest. In particular, we urge Member States to ensure universal access to essential services including water and sanitation by ring-fencing them from privatization and private financing.

To date, an important step forward has been made: in anticipation of the final stage of intergovernmental negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the July 8th Final draft of the outcome document for the UN Summit to adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda envisions 'a world where access to safe and affordable drinking water is a basic and universal human right … [and] where there is adequate and accessible sanitation.'

Further, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation has underscored the importance of acknowledging and naming the human right to water and sanitation in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, especially for the most marginalized. The specific recommendations on how this right be reflected in the Agenda are essential to our ongoing advocacy efforts at the United Nations. The letter can be used by members on the ground in engaging governments on the need to realize the human right to water and sanitation particularly for disadvantaged groups.

Together, Mercy worldwide can meet this challenge.

Access the statement on human rights and corporate accountability here.

Messages to:
Áine O’Connor rsm - MGA Co-ordinator at the UN
Avery Kelly