Right to Sanitation: A Challenge in the Post Disaster Situations

Abstract

Sanitation is an integral part of healthy living conditions. It is identified in various legal instruments in the form of right to adequate housing, health, water, etc. These rights are closely interlinked. The enforcement of these rights is dependent upon sanitation facilities. Sanitation remains one of the most neglected issues having serious implication on the lives and livelihoods of billions of people around the world. This paper contends that India being extremely disaster prone, sanitation is one of the crucial areas which require immediate attention in the aftermath of every disaster. Whether it is the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004) or Aila (2009), the government failed to provide adequate sanitation facilities in most of the temporary shelters. The lack of inadequate drainage facilities, dysfunctional state of toilets, and absence of sufficient drinking water had resulted in unhygienic conditions. The paper cites various international instruments pertaining to the scope and importance of protection of right to water and sanitation during disasters. The Supreme Court of India has conceptualized ̳right to sanitation‘ within the meaning of ̳right to life‘ as guaranteed under our Constitution. Though sanitation has found mention in various domestic legislation including the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the scenario is far from encouraging. The paper identifies indifference of authorities towards the problem, unscientific construction of shelters and theory oriented policies as causes responsible for the failure to address the issue of adequate sanitation. The paper offers certain suggestions to ensure a comprehensive policy safeguarding right to adequate sanitation in post disaster situations.