13th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development, New York

CSD-13 Women's Caucus Statement on Water and Sanitation

11.11.2004 |Sascha Gabizon

The Women's Caucus has prepared it's statement to the UN Commission for Sustainable Development 13th Session. The document was prepared by WEDO with input from WECF and other women's environmental organisations. The women's caucus calls attention to the need to take action on:

A. Access to water and land: human rights

Although the access to safe drinking water and other resources has been recognized as a human right, implementation of this right has failed thus far, thereby negatively impacting women.

B. Private Sector Involvement in the water and sanitation sector

Liberalization of water markets is pushing large parts of the population further into poverty and into using unsafe sources of drinking water. Women are badly affected. Policies favouring privatization of public services create a lack of accountability and transparency.

C. Financing

Less than 5% of the investments in public/private partnerships come from the private sector (CSD12). The idea that the private sector is the main source of financing to reach the MDGs is erroneous.

D. Governance and Gender Mainstreaming

Although gender is a cross-cutting issue, as agreed at CSD11, it remains largely invisible in the documents and deliberations of the UN and other institutions dealing with sustainable development and natural resources management.

E. Promoting Women’s Participation and Empowerment:

Women must be involved as full partners in both assessing the impact of services on women and the poor, and in crafting a more pro-active approach that addresses women’s needs as defined by women.

Download the full text.

More on the CSD 13.

To find out more, visit the page of the Working Group Water.